Hoppy Easter: Memorable Moments Contest #bloghop

It's time for the Hoppy Easter Blog Hop, and we're talking memories!

One of my earliest memories is of Easter morning. I was maybe three or four, and we lived in a little house near North Edwards Airforce Base in California. The desert spread out around the house for miles. Our front yard was desert, our backyard was desert, the neighbor lived two desert lots over, and right across the street from the house was nothing but desert. In my mind, that meant we lived in the middle of a never-ending desert.

I remember thinking it was completely awesome that the Easter Bunny really visited us that far out. For some reason, I thought he was like Santa Claus and lived in some cold place where he hibernated every day except Easter. Don't judge me. I was a little kid!

When we went out that morning to hunt eggs, we found one in a cactus across the street from the house. I have no clue which of us girls even found it, but I remember thinking the Easter Bunny was magical because he got that egg in the cactus and we didn't even hear him cry, so he must have done it without hurting himself. That egg was the holy grail of eggs for that reason alone.

We all stood around eagerly as my older sister and dad tried to wrestle it out without impaling their fingers on cactus barbs. It didn't work out so well, naturally, and the scene ended with tears and recriminations, not to mention a few nasty cactus barbs to the fingers. I didn't care though. I still had a basket full of Easter eggs because the Easter bunny had come all the way out to the middle of the desert to hide them just for us.

To my way of thinking back then, that made me a VIP. I was totally the E. Bunny's favorite. And I was totally bummed when I finally realized the Easter Bunny wasn't real. But I still remember how excited I was about the Easter Bunny putting that egg in the middle of a cactus, without hurting himself, just for us. I think about that every time I see an Easter egg, and I can't help but smile.

There's nothing like viewing the world through the eyes of a child. Unless you're Dace Matthews. Thinking about my childhood over the last couple of weeks made me realize that Dace doesn't have many happy memories of his childhood. His parents died when he was young, and he was on his own. That makes me sad. Everyone needs a happy memory from those long ago days when magical bunnies came out of hibernation just to bring you eggs in the middle of the desert.

So, I've decided we're going to spend Easter on memories! Who knows, maybe it'll shake a few loose for our wayward TA and Fade's hero. I think he could use one or two. :) And there's a prize involved for helping get him in the magical bunny mindset of happy days gone by.

One lucky commenter will win a copy of my debut YA novel, Fade, upon release from Noble Young Adult this spring!



The cover of Fade.

Here's how it works: 

• Share one of your childhood memories in the comment section of this post between now and 11:59pm (Central) on April 8th.
• On April 9th, I will put all of your names into the magical randomizing machine over at random.org.
• The magical machine will then pop out a list of names for me.
• The name at the top of the list wins the ebook.
• If you share your Peeps with me, you also win my eternal gratitude.

That's easy enough, right? 

I thought so. Want other chances to win great prizes from all across the blogsphere? Check out the Hoppy Easter Blog Hop here. Want to know more about Fade, or read an excerpt? You can do that here!

So... what's your favorite childhood memory?

Hoppy Easter, all, and don't forget the Peeps!

A.K.M.