Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt

I didn't have neighbors, that's why they call it hood. - B.o.B. The Sherman Park Easter Egg Hunt was amazing this year. I think this may be our ninth year. In past years, we've been doing the egg hunt in rain, cold, and snow. It kinda sucks some of the fun out of it. But not this year. The weather was perfect, the turnout was great, and there were many neighbors who stepped forward to make it happen. And they're off!
I laughed when I saw the above photos. I see Pete, the adult in the red shirt, playing defense to slow down the big boys to give the little kids a chance.













It's funny how much prep work goes into stuffing the eggs and hiding them and the whole thing is done in, like, seven minutes. The kids of Sherman Park are the fastest children on earth, according to me. To make the egg hunt last a little longer than seven minutes, we have pastries and coffee so that people can hang out a little longer.






The kids usually keep the candy and dump the plastic eggs into a bin so we can reuse them next year. But this year, we're going to dump all the eggs because finding the matching tops and bottoms to years-old plastic eggs is a maddening task. Next year, we'll start over with a fresh batch of eggs to save our sanity.



For me, this egg hunt is especially meaningful.  When I was a child, the adults would hide eggs all over town for us kids. And now, these are beautiful memories for the kids of Sherman Park. It's one of the things that make this little nook in the city a special place. We are neighbors, bound together by geography, but also by our love for this neighborhood. We don't just live near each other--we live with each other.  And we try to do that well. "Dang, Laura," you're thinking, "it's just an egg hunt. You're getting a little heavy-handed with the sap here."  Maybe. But once you become a Sherman Parker, something happens. You become part of a culture that struggles and celebrates together. When a community has seen some hard things, a simple gathering with some hidden eggs for the kids is held with thankful hands.  Thank you, everyone, for helping out and showing up. You're awesome.