Stranger Days #26: A Socially-Distanced Easter Bunny Visits Arlington
Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes
Welcome to stranger days--my blog series exploring daily life, challenges in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and just sharing insights or thoughts about how to make it through these days.
On Sunday, my partner and I were going for a long walk. It was a nice day in terms of weather and we needed just to get out. We took a route that we figured would be little trafficked. We live near a bike-path and know that on days like this, it gets lots of folks. While that's a problem during the pandemic, it also frees up other sidewalks all around because folks can't seem to resist it. So we traversed our neighborhood and discovered some interesting things.
We knew it was Easter but weren't thinking much about it until we passed by this house on our walk with its yard display. We wondered if it was akin to the Bear Hunts that seems to have died out (or maybe Bear-Hunting season passed?) that happened a few weeks ago. I mean, teddy bears are still in windows but we're not seeing kids wandering around looking for them (in truth, I'm not sure we ever did see that). But still, the display was still another means of showing solidarity and encouraging smiles.
We appreciated this artwork displayed on someone's lawn. It was creative and looked well for something that looked like it was created from paper bags. However, later on, when walking on a main road with lots of cars, we encountered the Easter Bunny.
When the parent and child came out, the Easter Bunny became animated. We were too far away to know what was being said but it was clearly interacting with the family, while another person in the truck came out with a giant cardboard egg. It was a very cute interaction, even from afar.
We continued our walk and about 20 minutes later, we encountered the Easter Bunny again in a different neighborhood up to the same shenanigans. We laughed again and were surprised that this time, we heard music from it (apparently, there is an Easter Bunny song--I'm not surprised by this but did not actually know it until I heard it).
About an hour later, we were working on the yard, not wanting to give up the chance to enjoy the better weather, when once again, the Easter Bunny came driving down our street. What luck we were having! The Easter Bunny slowed down in front of our house and then continued on. We weren't sure if it was because the Easter Bunny recognized us and was about to get out and rough us up for lunch money. But then, a neighbor across the street got excited and yelled into his house for his daughter to come quickly (even saying, "forget the shoes, just get out here"). The daughter wasn't fast enough and the Easter Bunny took off. But that didn't stop this persistent parent. He took the kid and put her in the car and then raced down the street.
I wondered if this was the start of some hilarious children's movie or worse yet, a Michael Bay or Quentin Tarantino film, but that was not the case. The mother came out to watch them go and disavowed her husband, "I'm not proud of him" she said, mostly jokingly. We then learned that the Easter Bunny was part of a city project where parents could sign up fo a visit from the Easter Bunny this year somewhere online and that the Easter Bunny would visit families during a particular window of time on Sunday.
It was nice to see volunteers organizing and creating some cheer for kids and well, it brought a little bit of cheer to our day.
Take care. Be careful. Be care-filled. Welcome to stranger days.
Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Welcome to stranger days--my blog series exploring daily life, challenges in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and just sharing insights or thoughts about how to make it through these days.
On Sunday, my partner and I were going for a long walk. It was a nice day in terms of weather and we needed just to get out. We took a route that we figured would be little trafficked. We live near a bike-path and know that on days like this, it gets lots of folks. While that's a problem during the pandemic, it also frees up other sidewalks all around because folks can't seem to resist it. So we traversed our neighborhood and discovered some interesting things.
As we walked, this truck passed and we laughed. I mean, it's not an everyday sight to see the Easter Bunny in the back of a pick-up truck. And we could tell it was a multi-person situation with two folks in the truck itself and the person in the bunny suit. But then the truck stopped and started honking, which seemed strange since this street didn't have parking.
We continued our walk and about 20 minutes later, we encountered the Easter Bunny again in a different neighborhood up to the same shenanigans. We laughed again and were surprised that this time, we heard music from it (apparently, there is an Easter Bunny song--I'm not surprised by this but did not actually know it until I heard it).
About an hour later, we were working on the yard, not wanting to give up the chance to enjoy the better weather, when once again, the Easter Bunny came driving down our street. What luck we were having! The Easter Bunny slowed down in front of our house and then continued on. We weren't sure if it was because the Easter Bunny recognized us and was about to get out and rough us up for lunch money. But then, a neighbor across the street got excited and yelled into his house for his daughter to come quickly (even saying, "forget the shoes, just get out here"). The daughter wasn't fast enough and the Easter Bunny took off. But that didn't stop this persistent parent. He took the kid and put her in the car and then raced down the street.
I wondered if this was the start of some hilarious children's movie or worse yet, a Michael Bay or Quentin Tarantino film, but that was not the case. The mother came out to watch them go and disavowed her husband, "I'm not proud of him" she said, mostly jokingly. We then learned that the Easter Bunny was part of a city project where parents could sign up fo a visit from the Easter Bunny this year somewhere online and that the Easter Bunny would visit families during a particular window of time on Sunday.
It was nice to see volunteers organizing and creating some cheer for kids and well, it brought a little bit of cheer to our day.
Take care. Be careful. Be care-filled. Welcome to stranger days.
Did you enjoy this read? Let me know your thoughts down below or feel free to browse around and check out some of my other posts!. You might also want to keep up to date with my blog by signing up for them via email.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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