Today we drove 54 miles each way to Dartmouth High School. It was raining hard for most of the trip. As we approached Providence (Rhode Island)(before re-entering Massachusetts), traffic got very heavy which made no sense at all. I mean — it’s a weekend. There isn’t a lot of Cape Cod or business traffic, so what’s with the jam up? We bumped into heavy traffic last time too and were equally baffled by it. We had left extra time so we were a quarter of an hour early. Perfect.
The rain more or less stopped for a little while, but by the time we got to the high school, it was pouring. I decided to wait in the car. it was wet and that kind of cold and damp that does ugly things to my spine and the rest of the arthritis. Now that I have a iPhone, when there’s nothing else to do, I can read the news. I get the New York Times and the Washington Post (virtual) and bits and pieces from Apple and other services, especially CBS-TV. As a result, I’m really well-informed. I don’t remember reading this much news ever. When Garry was working, he used to read three newspapers a day and on Sundays, all he did was read newspaper and watch sports. It’s a miracle we managed to get and stay married.
So there we were. Garry went in to get his second and presumably the final, part of his COVID-19 vaccination. He returned about half an hour later and waved a big yellow piece of paper at me. “CONGRATULATIONS! YOU’VE BEEN VACCINATED!”
One down, two to go. I get my first little stab on Monday. While I was waiting for Garry to get finished, CVS texted me 9 times, each text identical and each reminding me I’m getting vaccinated on Monday. I found myself yelling at the phone “YES I KNOW, I KNOW.” I really know. And it gives me hope.
Who imagined that vaccinations would become such a hot topic of conversation in our latter years?
Share this:
Categories: #Health, #Photography, Anecdote, Coronavirus - Covid 19, Epidemic - Pandemic - Plague, Vaccination, vaccine
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
Got my first shot yesterday. Partner fully vaccinated. There is progress and hope. Good luck tomorrow.
LikeLike
Slowly, slowly, we are going to gradually emerge. Yes, there IS hope!
LikeLike
I received my second shot last Tuesday. Since I live in a building dedicated to Senior Citizens they came to us. I sincerely wish everyone in the building had received the shots but there are still some around who still think it’s all a hoax. I wonder if they have the nerve to tell the survivors of the millions of people around the world who are mourning the family members and the friends who are gone now that they died of a hoax? So much craziness now and no cure for crazy. I embrace my own form of crazy; it brings me laughable moments, but it doesn’t extend to the kind that could kill the people around me. So glad you posted this. Thank you.
LikeLike
We live in a senior environment, but it’s a private home, so we had the LONG drive. But mine are much closer — less than half an hour from here and a very easy drive, too. Finally. Is there still a world out there? It has been SO long!
Yes, there is a lot of craziness “out there.” Not just craziness, but what I think is contagious idiocy. Crazy can be fun, but becoming seriously stupid doesn’t sound like any fun at all 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can say for sure that crazy can be fun. Crazy was the wrong word to use about this insanity now though. Even insanity can be fun when you are aware that it is insane, but lately I’m wondering how so many people escaped from the asylum, all led by a certain former president. Now that is serious insanity in my opinion, but then nobody asked me so I try to keep remarks like that to a minumum. Seriously stupid is a much better way to put it because insanity is a valid reason for something. Stupidity has no excuse when it;s so easy to get off the stupid train and gain some real time perspective.
LikeLike
I am happy for everyone who gets the vaccine. That means there will be less chance for the rest of us to get COVID-19. The odds of getting an appointment here seem to be about the same as winning the lottery. Add to that all of the stories of younger, healthy people “jumping the line” and finding ways to get the vaccine ahead of the elderly and first responders. So disappointed to hear how certain Walgreens locations have been careless about who gets the vaccine first.
If CVS texts you ten more times, remember that is not a bad thing. The vaccines supposedly have a short shelf life and they don’t want to miss anyone.
LikeLike
This all happened very suddenly and pretty much when I was about to give up. You mean — there are WORSE places to get vaccinated than Massachusetts? Sheesh. Our distribution has been horribly mismanaged — especially when you consider we live in a state renowned for high tech and medical research. We also aren’t such a big state, it shouldn’t have been this difficult.
LikeLike
It is tough her to get an appointment, but local CBS has been reporting Walgreens locations that have vaccinated people not in the current “category” approved for vaccination. You must have an appointment so it is hard to say how this happens. A couple of young people were taken away for falsefying information to get shots (they didn’t get any, I think).
LikeLike
I am so glad Garry has had his two vaccinations, Marilyn. Once you’ve had yours you’ll be able to relax a bit. So happy for you both.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope we’ll be able to actually see friends again. It has been so long, I sometimes wonder if they still exist except in the virtual world!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so relieved to read this post!! YAY!! Now you go and get your jabs and let us hope that puts the ugly virus firmly in its place! *phew* hmmm?
LikeLiked by 1 person
No one is more relieved that I am. Garry’s having a bit of a reaction today, but nothing dramatic. I am assuming I might have a reaction, but I don’t CARE. I want my life back!
LikeLike
It isn’t really a hot topic so much as a persistent annoyance that is pounded into our heads by media, seems to make people believe they are the “lucky ones” because they got a vaccination for the virus. I worry about my friends and family that already got the shot, mostly nurses, we shall see what the end results of this will be. Hopefully all good outcomes. I will wait and watch to see what the end result of this will be. I am wary, and I am waiting. I wish the best to everyone who had gotten it, especially my family and friends. They are mostly nurses and vaccination was pretty much strongly encouraged although they were hesitant to jump in, they ultimately had the 2 shots, with some side effects, some worse than others. Many people are hesitant and fearful, that doesn’t make them democrat, or republican, it just makes them people who are cautious and weighing pros and cons of medication, you know, BIG PHARMA. Many people didn’t trust before this vaccine came along. I read the vaccine alters your genes, to name a few, I read and watched some prominent people in health care field discuss vaccine and those videos were removed from media, as well as my sharing them with others. I worry because, why the cover-up or taking down of alternative views from knowledgeable people? Some have lost their jobs and licenses due to their views and expressing it publicly I compare this big push to get us all vaccinated to brain-washing and lining us up then marching us to the unknown. Perhaps I will be banned from saying this. I am concerned and have many questions, we need to hear all views, and clarify the negative as well. I am not saying, never, just not right now.
LikeLike
I wish you’d sign in. I don’t like answering anonymous posts and I don’t think you ARE anonymous, just not logged in. Anyway, of course they alter your genes. That’s what vaccinations do. That’s what smallpox, flu, polio, whooping cough, measles and all other vaccinations do. I understand that people distrust science because science has been misused — commercially — in many way, especially agriculturally. However, if it weren’t for vaccines, many of us would never have lived to see adulthood. I remember, as a small child, the oncoming of the “polio season” which was late spring into summer and the terror every mother had as it managed to invade everywhere. Then, one day, there was the Salk vaccine. We all lined up in school to get vaccinated AND POLIO WENT AWAY.
Removing false information is not a coverup. The stuff you were distributing IS NOT TRUE. It has no scientific basis. It is — in many cases — complete nonsense and I don’t buy into it. I have some issues with GMU crops — not because it’s going to turn us into zombies, but because it doesn’t taste good and it rots very quickly. It may be making more food faster, but it isn’t making BETTER food. This is not food production. THIS is pure medical science and people who reject it based on untested, non-factual, irrational fears are doing themselves and the rest of us a serious disservice. Sorry. I don’t buy it. I’m really glad I was able to raise my son and not worry about him getting smallpox, polio, whooping cough, measles or mumps or for that matter, typhoid fever. He had enough other physical issues without my worrying that he was going to die of some ancient plague.
This isn’t brainwashing. It’s medicine and it keeps you from dying of something stupid that you could prevent. Anti-vaxxers are what they are. Everyone has a right to doubt, but most of us have the intelligence to do a little research and discover what vaccines are supposed to do — which is how come they work.
Vaccinations have made modern life a lot healthier for everyone. We have many more people living longer, healthier lives than they lived “before.” It’s not like a few hundred years ago people lived longer healthier lives. They lives MUCH shorter lives and many died before reaching adulthood. A 50-year-old man was considered OLD. Living to 60 was amazing. Yes, a few people lived longer, but most people didn’t.
My biggest resentment about people who are so busy distrusting vaccines is not that you’re endangering yourself or your children, but you are endangering me and MY children. You may have the right to object, but I have the right to not want you anywhere near me or mine. You just can’t have it both ways.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I wish I had said all this to some people with the strange points of view about it all. Great answer!
LikeLike
I turned this into a post for tomorrow with some graphics showing lines of iron lungs and polio victims. It’s hard for me to understand people who use rumors as the basis for life and death decisions. Stupid doesn’t really cover it. There needs to be a better word!
LikeLike
Half way through! 👍👍👍
LikeLike
Garry’s done and I’ll be halfway after tomorrow, so progress. Slowly, but definitely progress. Yay!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yay! 👍👍👍
LikeLike
Marilyn, who would believe so many trump supporters seem so deluded, it’s totally unbelievable, but then again, these days anything can happen, by the way, a little raw celery with ham in a sandwich is great for arthritic pains, it can also cure it sometimes, after all your good Samaritan works with the birds, you ought to be lucky, amen
LikeLiked by 1 person
If I manage to eliminate COVID as a direct threat, I will feel very lucky. It’s funny that with so many losses this year, none of them have been COVID related. But then again, everyone we know is our age or nearly our age, so we all have “issues.”
LikeLike