WHILE LOOKING FOR A NEW NORMAL - PART TWO

 Random Post-Panic Pandemic Reflections

Norton Hospital Vaccination Center

Here I am getting my first COVID vaccination.  I tried not to look at the needle. 

I took a selfie to distract myself. To my surprise, it was absolutely painless! I

had no after affects, not even a sore arm! 

January 23, 2021

#2

Relief Is On the Way

I got my first vaccination today (January 23). I am as excited as a kid at Christmas or a person who has had a huge tax bill "resolved" by Optima Tax Relief! I am not "out of the woods" yet, but I feel that the "rescue party" has finally arrived on the scene to transport me out of a horrible situation! My second vaccination is scheduled for February 13. I can't wait!  

Two things dawned on me in the process. (1) How in the hell do many seniors manage to make their way through the online process of things like Norton's MyChart, digitally sign the forms and answer the several text alerts? I use a computer almost every day  and I barely found my way through that jungle! I guess that is why God invented children and grandchildren! (2) I learned again that if you really want something, you have to stay alert, push ahead, don't give up and then you can often be rewarded. I was determined to get the first vaccination I could get for my age group. I wasn't first in line, but I was part of the first day or two to get an appointment before they had to quit taking appointments because of a short supply of available doses.  I guess it is another case of "if you snooze, you lose!" It reminded me again that I often give up too easily and back off if it gets complicated. I guess that is a hold-over from childhood days when I was called a "runt" because of my small size. I am reminded, even as I am writing this, of another expression from my childhood - "root hog or die!" "Root hog or die" is a common American catch-phrase dating at least to the early 1800s. Coming from the early colonial practice of turning pigs loose in the woods to fend for themselves, the term is an idiomatic expression for self-reliance. Thomas Merton was right, "The biggest human temptation is to settle for too little."  

It seems that many people are reluctant to take the vaccine. I find this very curious. Good science says it is safe and effective. When I weighed whether to believe the scientists or risk dying on a ventilator or having long-term health issues from the effects of having had COVID 19, I knew what I was going to do. I was going to take the damned vaccine, as soon as possible, no matter what, even if I had to do the injection myself!