hunting

via

when i was a little girl

and then a medium girl

and then a big girl

my family held GIGANTIC Easter parties.

we're catholic.

all of us.

a gigantic, catholic family of epic proportions in texas.

and we're full of love.

we never limit the love.

friends, romans, countryman

they're all welcome here.

so we had these gigantic parties!

the saturday before easter

we invited EVERYONE we knew

and they invited EVERYONE they knew

and they all brought their kids and their grandparents

and twelve dozen plastic candy filled easter eggs

and we gathered all these eggs in a giant basket

and we gathered all the food everyone brought in my dad's shop

and we gathered all the people every single place we could possibly fit them.

inside, outside, front yard, back yard, shop, shed, trucks, trees

people were EVERYWHERE.

and everyone had fun.

everyone drank

(but not the kids, of course,)

everyone joked

everyone goofed

everyone was happy that lent was over or nearly over

and it was just utterly fantastic.

then.

the Big Event would happen.

all the kids gather inside

line up

by age

and clutch onto easter baskets.

a big kid

or a grown-up

acts as wrangler

and for ten-fifteen-twenty minutes maybe!

all the kids inside

squirm and push and scream and laugh and yell

anxiously waiting for that gigantic basket of eggs to be planted

to be hidden

to be spewed all over the backyard, the front yard, the trees, the people, the shop, the EVERYWHERE!

and then the hunt

BEGINS.

the babies are allowed out first.

they're three and under

some of them being carried by older cousins or parents

and the babies just kind of patter around the yard in circles

happy with one egg or colored piece of plastic

then come the four year olds

the five year olds

the sixes

hordes of children

tearing out of the house

sprinting around the slightly-more-than-an-acre yard we had

a mad dash for treats and treasures untold

the competition suddenly increases

seven year olds

eight year olds

nines

then tens

followed

quickly by 11, 12, 13, 14 maybe, even.

BIG KIDS

trampling, stomping, hurtling forward

plundering and stashing

candy, eggs, maybe money from eggs

not bothering to look at their loot

only troubling themselves to get as much of it as possible.

within minutes,

ten, at the most,

the hunt ends

the eggs scavenged, hunted, and horded.

we retreat.

we gather in groups to peruse the haul.

real eggs, hard boiled eggs,

were almost nearly thrown out immediately

or given to grown-ups

who may or may not appreciate the taste.

the real wins were anything with money

bite sized candy bars

temporary tattoos

and then the feasting begins.

and continues

and through the day and through the night

we all connect and rejoice and are grateful for the time to celebrate, to appreciate, to remember who we are and where we come from and why we join together to sing.

hoppy easter, everyone!