I’m glad my kids are too old for Easter egg hunts, especially with the amount of snow still on the ground. Having to dig into a snow bank to retrieve a bright pink egg detracts from the notion that spring is here. 

   I woke up early on Sunday morning and was out the door by 6 a.m. in order to drive to Kennebunk Beach to take photos of the sunrise Easter service. Afterward, I drove around Kennebunk for a  while, in search of children out looking for Easter eggs. There were no children out.

   I turned my attention to the woods, hoping to catch a glimpse of a deer, moose, bear, turkey or other wildlife enjoying the morning. I would have settled for a squirrel, but none was out. I drove to Rogers Pond looking for birds or the family of foxes that used to live there. Nothing.

   I headed back to the Sanford area and drove through every neighborhood I could think of, again looking for children or eggs or both. There were no brightly colored Easter eggs tucked in the snow waiting to be found and no children running around with a basket dangling off their arm while they searched.

   The only thing I found were yards full of dirty snow, two cats bounded across the road in front of me and leapt over snow banks on the other side, a handful of robins, one garage roof that had collapsed, two boys playing basketball, geese flying in formation, a snow bank embedded with trash from January and three Sanford police officers.

   I went out three separate times looking for Easter egg hunters. Not only were yards devoid of egg hunters, the streets were deserted, too. There was no reason for people to be out driving (unless they worked for a newspaper and were looking for photo opportunities) because the grocery stores were closed, Wal-Mart was closed and every shop along Main Street was closed.

   The nice thing about the deserted streets was I was the first one at every stoplight. On the other hand, it was pointless to sit at a stoplight waiting for it to change when there was no traffic coming from the other direction.

   It seemed like I was the only person left on Earth – or at least in Sanford/Springvale. It was a strange feeling.

   I recently experienced another strange feeling. I became “invisible.” My old red van died. I have a new car. When I had my van, everyone recognized it (or heard it coming). People waved to me all the time.

   “Hey, there’s Renee,” they were probably saying as we passed and they waved.

   When I’d drive through the school zone after school, my kids’ friends waved to me.

   Just after I bought my new (to me) car, I was driving through the school zone and saw a girl that always waved to me and I always returned the greeting.

   I brought my hand up to return the anticipated wave. This time, though, as I approached her, there was no spark of recognition on her face. She continued to chat with her friends as I passed by. I remembered that I was in a car she didn’t recognize.

   Apparently, nobody recognizes me anymore. All of my “road friends” ignore me now. I won’t tell you what I drive now, but I will give you a hint – there are two things on the car that give it away that it’s me.

   Back to the quest for the Easter egg hunters – it was disappointing to have so much snow on the ground at Easter even if the holiday fell in a month during which there is typically snow on the ground.

   One year, long ago, we woke up on a beautiful spring morning. The sun was shining and it was balmy outdoors. There was a slight breeze. It was a perfect day to fly kites. I took the kids to the store where we picked out our kites and spools of string. We talked excitedly about how high our kites might sail and whose would get off the ground first. On the way to the field at Carl J. Lamb School, we laughed as we recalled previous kite flying experiences. As we pulled up, we fell silent.

   The field was still blanketed with a couple feet of snow. We forgot that just because it felt like spring didn’t mean it was spring. In our excitement to be outdoors again, we didn’t see the snow banks that still lined the streets. We still laugh about that day.

   I guess yesterday the Easter Bunny forgot there was still snow on the ground. He must have hidden everyone’s Easter eggs in the house – out of view of that nosy newspaper reporter who was counting on a nice Easter photo for the front page.

                                  – Renee Worthing