The Easter Bunny

2007

I love the Easter Season.  I love Spring.  I love spring flowers. And I love the Easter Bunny.  As creepy as he is depicted in the the shopping malls where he doesn't say a word to the kids, I still love him or her.

When I was young, there were no Easter Bunnies in suits to scare the dickens out of kids.  The Easter Bunny was imaginary, but somehow he left kids baskets on Easter morning!  We didn't have Easter egg hunts either.  Was I deprived?  NO....There wasn't pinterest, internet, fake news or massive advertising about what to put in a basket.  It just happened!  Our parents figured it out on their own.  And they did a great job.

Hope met the Easter Bunny one spring in a NC mall.  Melida lived in Chapel Hill and we took a jet plane to see her.  Melida is a planner, so meeting the Easter Bunny was on the list.  This Bunny danced around it's own gazebo in the middle of the mall.  There were no children around, like you see when you visit Santa. The mall was dead and  Hope had Bunny's full attention.  This bunny did not talk.  I figured that was a good thing.  What are you suppose to do with the Mall Easter Bunny, tell it what you want in your basket?  That just doesn't seem right!

Hope started out timid and then she warmed up to the bunny.  She was 3 at the time, walking, running and hitting was part of her skill set.  She never needed sugar to get her to the escalated excitement level, she could get there with whirling, twirling and squealing! When she was at the height of twirling and dancing on the gazebo with the bunny, some other children approached out of nowhere. They were there to see the bunny.    At this point, Hope owned the Bunny.  No one else was going to have access to the bunny.  This short and skinny child had the strength of Goliath, she was shoving kids off the gazebo and I was trying to be the mother who was in control. This was not my first episode with my non-sugar crazed child nor would it be the last.

I don't like the idea of being in control when havoc breaks out, especially when it involve Hope.  I just want to hide sometimes.  But this time, I stepped up, grabbed the 25lb wiggle worm from behind and pulled her off the bunny's leg with her kicking and screaming, " My Bunny!"  And at the same time apologized to kids, parents, grandparents, police officers and the poor Bunny.  By the time we got to the car, I don't know who was crying more.  If it would have been 2017, the whole ordeal would have gone viral thanks to cell phones.

Bissy was young and horrified.  Melida just laughed because she thinks everything is funny. I just sat there thinking, " Do I go back in and pay for damages?"  We left,never to return!

This incident didn't stop us from getting in contact with another Easter Bunny.  No siree, we put ourselves through the horror again and again.  Year after Year.  She still owns the BUNNY!  Now, she will shop at Dollar Tree for plastic eggs and hide them in the yard, for herself!  Then she finds them. 

She loves the Easter Bunny, the eggs, the baskets and the chocolate.  She loves them 24/7 365.  She loves them as much as she loves Christmas, Valentines and Birthdays.