What we forget vs the shit we hang on to

We had a long list of shit to get done this weekend.  Yesterday, my husband starts the morning off by suggesting we watch a movie and then do stuff.   We accomplished nothing yesterday...... not that is necessarily a bad thing.  Then he took allergy meds last night and went to bed at 9.

I stayed up and and hung with M for a little while.  She inquired about an Easter baskets.  I brought out a bag full of candy......... she made me hide it for her.  She is 12 and way past believing in the Easter Bunny.  M brought up the one Easter when she cried because she couldn't find her basket and thought the bunny had forgotten about her.  I realized I never told her what really happened.

I was working weekend nights at the hospital and going to college during the week.  It was after W's first deployment, very shortly after in fact.  Before I left for my shift, I gave him very strict instructions,
"The girls baskets are in the closet.  All you have to do is to hide them after they go to bed.  This is very important!  I do not want to come home to tears and cries of 'the Easter Bunny forgot me'."

When I arrived home early the next morning, I was immediately met with sobs,
 "The Ea-ster Buh-Nay forgot about me!"
My head screams........ DAMNIT W!
But I got this, I can handle anything................ I hope.
"Did you check behind the couch?"
"Ya-es"
"The kitchen?"
"The Bunny always hides it behind the couch.  And he forgot!"
"No baby, he didn't forget.  We just have to look harder.  Did you check your room?"
"I did."
"How about you check again and I will see if that silly rabbit left it in my room by mistake."
She cries all the way to her room and I make a mad dash into my room, back to the closet and grab both baskets.  As I head out of my bedroom, I yell (in a hushed voice) at my husband, who is still in bed sleeping.  When I start down the hall, M emerges from her's.......... head down and still crying.  I have just enough time to duck into the laundry room, drop her Easter basket in the laundry basket on the dryer and throw the other basket in the bathroom and then exit the laundry room and start back down the hall towards her before she looks up.
"Was it not there?"
She is crying so hard she can do nothing more than shake her head.
"How about you check the laundry room and I go look in your sister's room?"
 I stand outside of S's room holding my breath.  When I peak down the hall, I see her holding her basket.
She is smiling through her tears.  I exhale and start back towards her.
"It was in here mommy.  But he always puts it behind the couch."
"I know baby.   But you know what, we never had kittens before............. and I bet that bunny had to find a new spot because he was afraid the kitties would get him."

We both laughed.  She told me that she had thought for the longest time that her dad had just hid it in the wrong spot.  I told her how pissed I had been at him, but it ended up being of my favorite stories.   I should remember to tell more of those and less of the others.