Henning Happenings

Chad Koenen

If riding a bull is one of the most exciting 8 seconds in sports—Easter egg hunts could be the most exciting 5 minutes of the spring. 

On Saturday, Dani, the girls and I attended three different Easter egg hunts in the area for the newspaper. It’s our annual Saturday of Easter tradition and one that we keep marked down on our calendar each year. The egg hunts are a fun way to kick off the busy weekend, while also touching base with some people on a nice spring morning. Well, you can cross the latter part off that statement this year as we were greeted with cold weather, snow and a wind that reminded me of Christmas and not Easter.

What I always find entertaining during the egg hunts is listening to the parents talk to their children about how they should get the most eggs. Some parents tell their children to run to the opposite side of the field, while others tell them to be ruthless and take no prisoners as they criss cross a playground in search of colorful Easter eggs.

After hearing the strategies given to children and grand children at a number of the different Easter egg hunts in the area, I truly want to know whether you should get the eggs closest to you, or run to the opposite side of the field and work your way back.

To see the smiles on the children’s faces as they walk back to the starting line with a bucket full of plastic eggs and endless wonders inside you can’t help but smile yourself. It takes a lot of time and work to fill all of the Easter eggs so even though the event itself is over in the blink of an eye, the work going into the event starts weeks in advance. We do appreciate all of the work of the volunteers who make these events possible. 

Now, even though I like watching the egg hunts each Easter I do have one idea I would like to see in the future—extreme adult Easter egg hunting. 

Have you ever wanted to see an adult act like a child? Throw a bunch of plastic Easter eggs in the middle of a yard and watch the chaos ensue. I’m sure it would be made for TV and could even make for a new reality show where seven strangers stab each other in the back to see who could get the most candy in their bags, before all of the eggs were found. It could be like the show Survivor, but without all of the insect consumption. 

There would be shoving, teamwork and even some name calling as contestants act like children in search for those special eggs. It would be a blast to see and I think even the kids would enjoy watching adults let loose for a little bit. While I enjoy the egg hunts for our kids, I always feel a little guilty when I eat their “good” candy from the candy jar on our counter. If adults had their own egg hunt we wouldn’t feel quite so bad when we open up a bite size Snickers we cracked open in an egg.