The Joy of Jellybeans

Now that my kids are “grown up” I was thinking that I don’t have “an excuse” to dye Easter eggs and hide jellybeans any more. But then I asked myself, do I really need an excuse to be playful? I can hide jellybeans until I’m one hundred if I so choose. If I one day have grandchildren--and at that age, hopefully, great grandchildren--all the better, but if not, so what?

So I had some fun with eggs and dye, made some baskets, and hid some jellybeans. And, surprisingly, my youngest young adult (who happened to be home this weekend) was not too cool to look for them.

My love affair with jellybeans dates back to my own childhood, of course. Easter was one of my dad’s favorite holidays (he also loved Christmas, and enjoyed helping me gather a Coke and cookies to leave by the fireplace for Santa, as well as a carrot for Rudolph). It took me a while to figure out that the note of thanks penned in response each year was written on the very paper my father kept in his desk drawer.  

At Easter, while my mom was excited to get to church and smell all the spring flowers, Dad was more into hiding the jellybeans around the house so that when I woke up I could hunt for them (my older siblings may have slightly different memories, but this is the way it was for me). It was fun, once I figured out that the jellybeans came from Dad and not the Easter bunny, to see this side of my father, who was usually a rather proper, serious gentleman. But holidays always brought out the kid in him.

I guess I just like things that bring out the kid in all of us, whether sand castles, Frisbees, kittens, jellybeans, kites, crayons, bubble gum, or anything else. It’s great that actual children get to play with all this stuff, but I don’t think there should be an age limit. Nor should we adults have to wait until Christmas or Easter to behave like children. Kids, after all, are always trying to act like grown-ups, so it’s only fair that we get to act like them.

            Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Spring and I hope that each and every one of you gets the chocolate bunny of your choice (just don’t eat the whole thing in one sitting)!