It’d been a few weeks since Mitzi Beck had been able to see her grandchildren.
It may be a few more before she gets that opportunity.
But in the interim, the Iola woman took advantage of the Easter holiday for the next best thing.
Buck donned her Easter Bunny costume and delivered cookies to her grandchildren in Moran.
She did so with an abundance of precaution. She sterilized her cooking area before doing the baking, wrapped the cookies in plastic, then wore rubber gloves and and a pair of masks — one for around her face; the other around the bunny mask — before venturing outside.
Her biggest fear — that her grandchildren would rush to her for a hug — was for naught.
“They knew to keep their distance,” Beck told the Register in a telephone interview.
Instead, Beck and her grandchildren, ages 4, 7 and 16, blew kisses to one another.
“It’s amazing to me how much kids have adapted to this ‘new normal,’” said Beck, who has made social distancing her mantra, and for good reason.
The visit garnered the attention of passersby, both in Iola and Moran.
A few passing motorists gave a friendly holler.
Even a pair of teenagers, ordinarily nonplussed with such characters as the Easter Bunny, gave her a joyous wave, Beck noted.
She suffers from Type 1 diabetes, and is among those considered more vulnerable than most adults to COVID-19.
Beck was overjoyed to see the response she received, both from her grandchildren, others on the street and her neighbors, some of whom she gave extra cookies.
By the time the crumbs settled, she’d given away more than three dozen cookies.
Beck hopes coronavirus-related restrictions are lifted when it becomes safe to do so.
