On a day when children near and far rush to gather Easter eggs, proudly filling up their baskets with goodies and treats, I am reminded of how often I put my eggs into a single basket, as well.

I feel like I’ve done it since birth. Better yet, I was probably scheming in the womb about my first basket, and I likely couldn’t wait to call it my own.

With guns blazing, I filled it up. Inevitably, a stumble occurred, and my eggs were gone. And that was just in pre-school.

The years would pass, and I’d gather more eggs, constantly putting them into one basket at a time. Again, more disappointment. Sometimes I’d trip myself up, and the eggs would once again be gone. Other times, it seems like people could smell the fact that I was a one-basket girl, and they’d target that very thing that I was so sure of.

“Let’s get her,” they’d say.

“Push her down,” others would chime in.

And there I’d be, stunned, blinking, wondering how the basket that I thought was rock-solid and impervious to others’ antics could fail me. Wondering how people could fail me. Wondering how love could fail me.

When it comes time to start saving for retirement, our eggs are rarely in one basket. Trusted advisors spread them around for us. So why is it so hard to do this in our own lives? Maybe it’s not for most people. But it is for me.

I like that I’m a one-basket girl. I like my focus, my commitment and my tireless belief in something. But when it doesn’t come back to us, it’s less about questioning my one-basketness, and more about finding a basket that’s up for the task. Maybe one that doesn’t have a hole in it, maybe one that has a sturdier handle.

My basket failed recently, and my eggs are gone. I’m going to be basketless and eggless for a while — by design — while I wrap my head around, well, myself, and dissect that which I thought I knew to be true by this point in my life. But the thing I’m thankful for is the mental picture of the kid who, even though she tripped in the grass and everything tumbled out, wiped away the frustration from her eyes set out to give the basket another go with a smile on her face.