E is for Egg Hunt

During Easter week, Carolyn and I took Stuart and Ethan to the annual Town of Cary Easter Egg Hunt. I really wasn't looking forward to it as the frivolity of the event (not to mention the bright pastel colors) seem antithetical to the Lenten season. I like my Easters quiet and contemplative - mediating on our Lord's death and resurrection. This is nigh impossible to do on a field filled with hundreds of children and their parents repeating the same conversation over and over:

Child: Is it time to start yet? Why can't we start? Can I pick up just one egg?
Parent: No... The Easter bunny is still hiding the eggs... We'll start when he's ready... Hey, put that down...

Amazingly, in the midst of that hubbub, I was able to have a decent conversation with my son. Carolyn had taken Ethan to another field for the egg hunt for younger children, so I was looking after Stuart. After 10 years of life together, either he is growing up or I have become a more child-centered parent, but at times I am finding that we can carry on relatively lucid conversations that don't have any thing to do with GameBoys or GameCubes:

Me: So, Stuart, what do you think of this egg hunt?
Stuart: It's my first and last one. [The cut off is 10 years old.]
Me: Do you think that it has anything to do with Easter?
Stuart: Well, yeah...
Me: Really? What does hunting for eggs have to do with Jesus?
Stuart: Well, like eggs are a symbol of life. They're suppose to remind of us of the new life we have in Jesus. Don't you know?
Me: Wow...

Don't let this moment of Stuart's spiritual maturity fool you; he's still very much a kid. As the start of the egg hunt neared, I reminded him that there were a lot of smaller children about and that he should be considerate of them. In fact, Stuart heard this admonition twice, as a mother who had eavesdropped on my parental advice loudly repeated my words verbatim to her large brood. Feeling rather proud and satisfied that I have insured the security of our sector, I walked out to to the middle of the field to wait for a good photo of Stuart, etal. running towards me. I ended up taking this film clip instead. What can I say? All I know is that I'm going to show this at his wedding if he ever gets married.