One of those moments

I had one of those parenting moments today. The kind of moment that you hear others talk about, or watch on a sitcom, or imagine. If you want to get technical, I guess it was a bunch of feelings and thoughts crammed into one moment.

We are trying our best to keep Easter all about Christ and do fun springtime activities later, but when the park across the street has a free Easter egg hunt, you go! Richie and Gwen stayed home while Miles and I put on our heavy coats and boots again (Yes, it snowed and we had an Easter egg hunt, snow and all. Only in Rexburg I tell you.) and waited in line. We got there plenty early because I knew there would be a big turn out. We were right on the front line, but that also meant we had to wait for about 30 minutes to run out and grab the eggs lying across the field. Miles was starting to understand what was happening and got very excited. When they finally said we could go, I stayed behind since that's what they asked all the parents to do. However, in about 1 second, it was clear that Miles' timid excitement wasn't going to win him any eggs. I guess most parents realized this and pretty soon the field was covered with people swarming for the eggs. You would have thought those eggs were golden. "Get as many as you can!" "Hurry, run!" We were only about a quarter way through the field when it was clear, there were no eggs left. Miles didn't realize this and kept telling me we were going to find some eggs! My heart just broke. Here comes one of those feelings. I want to give my kids everything, and when I can't, it just hurts. And at that moment, "everything" was a plastic, neon egg with a Tootsie roll inside. I found myself subconsciously hoping, praying to find an egg. When I had resigned myself to the fact that there were no more and we'd just have to do something special at home and explain it as best as we could to Miles, a lady from our ward saw our basket was empty and hastily threw 2 eggs from her sons basket behind Miles. He turned around and was beyond ecstatic to actually find not one but 2 eggs! We knelt down in the snow to open them and as Miles bit into a cheap, chocolate candy, I hugged him tight and prayed so many things. I was so thankful to Sherri for giving away 2 eggs. I was thankful that Miles is still small enough to be easily satisfied and was as ecstatic with 2 eggs as he would have been with a whole bucket full. I was thankful that my boy is sweet and kind and still likes to hold my hand instead of racing through the egg-hunting crowds without me.
We walked home and I shed a few tears thinking about times in the future when it won't be a plastic egg that he wants, but maybe a car, or a cell phone, or to get invited to some party. What happens when I can't give it to him? Even if I can, should I? I then thanked Heavenly Father for parents who always gave me what I needed, even if it meant withholding something. They are smart parents who have followed our Heavenly Parents pattern. We don't always get what we want, do we? Thank goodness.
So yes, lots of "those" parenting types of moments today, at an Easter egg hunt of all places.