Memory Monday: I spoiled the hunt, or did it spoil itself?

Growing up, my grandparents always put together the best Easter egg hunt for their grandkids.  Their yard was perfect for hiding hundreds of eggs in.  Everyone was given a plastic basket with an attached number.  During the hunt we'd search for plastic and hardboiled eggs that were labeled with the respective number.  This assured it was fair.

On top of our given loot, they also hid a porcelain, silver, and golden egg for anyone to find.  The porcelain egg contained five dollars and some candy.  The silver egg was an old silver pantyhose container from back in the days when pantyhose came packaged in such an odd form.  It housed ten dollars and some extra candy.  The golden egg, now that's how a kid got rich!  Inside it's thick brass shell was a beautiful, crisp, twenty dollar bill and some higher-end candy.  Obviously, all of us searched for the golden egg first.

The golden egg was always hidden in a very discreet spot.  I'm not talking about inside the mailbox discreet.  I'm talking about it being tucked under some loose soffit, or under a pile of pine needles deep under the tree, or in the middle of a thick bush.  My grandparents got pretty creative in where they hid it so that it was never hidden somewhere it had previously been hidden.  I'm not sure how they found so many places to hide it.  It was heavy and fairly large, but it was always hidden well enough that it took us a long time to find.  Many a wasp nest and other frightening discoveries were found looking in every crack and crevice for the golden egg.

Once it was announced that someone had found the golden egg, (and the silver and porcelain egg too) we'd commence to finding our normal treasures.

Most of us didn't like hard boiled eggs, but we picked them up as we came across them since they were part of the hunt.  My grandmother always dyed them bright colors and that made them more exciting to pick up than a plain white egg I suppose.  Actually, she put a lot of work into the egg hunt and other family parties and I'm not sure any of us gave her enough credit or thanks.  It's too bad we realize things like this after that person has passed on.  Anyway, our moms would use the hardboiled eggs to make deviled eggs for Easter dinner and most of us did like those, so they weren't wasted.

I think we were told exactly how many eggs we were supposed to find to insure all of the eggs were picked up, but I don't remember all of the logistics.  This is what I do remember...

One sweltering July we ventured up to my grandparents for a visit.  We were standing in their garage talking, when I noticed something pink and oblong peeking out from behind a piece of plywood.  It had to be.  It was.  It was a three month forgotten, rotten hardboiled egg on the floor of my meticulous grandmother's garage.  I pointed it out.  She was mortified that an egg had sat rotting for three months in her garage (whose floor I might add was probably cleaner than my kitchen floor on any given day.)

Never again did the annual Easter egg hunt include hardboiled eggs.