One Week In, Two To Go

It might be spring if yesterday was too chilly to be outdoors and today is balmy.  If yesterday was gray and dour, and today is blissfully sunshiny.  If yesterday felt like a good day to cocoon and hibernate and today is an outdoorsy invitation.         

My garden is in no doubt that spring has just about sprung.  The yearly parade of intensely purple mini iris, tete a tete daffodils and crocuses (croci?) by the hundreds has been flaunting their blossoms regardless of snow flurries or shivery breezes.  Thank heavens for bulbs and perennials like primroses that lift my spirits each year.  

My vast collection of bunnies are lurking behind an abundance of green clad leprechauns and shamrocks, waiting for their turn in the seasonal spotlight.  Can lambs and peonies be far behind?  

I know that changing out holiday decorations is just too much trouble for most people nowadays.  I can't help embracing the changing seasons though.  A changing gallery of holiday reminders is just a small delight that makes my life a tad richer.

Plus, I get bored easily.  Eye candy is nice.

Time is a funny thing.  It hardly seems like it was only a week ago that we received our first covid vaccine.  The second dose scheduled for the twenty-ninth seems like an eternity away.  

I'm mulling how to celebrate being (relatively) street legal again.  There are some errands and projects that have been on the back burner.  Things I want to accomplish but have not been willing to risk the possible exposure, like a trip to a big box store to have a gallon of paint mixed for the family room or BB&B for a digital kitchen scale. The idea of going out without weighing risk factors and deciding on discretion is going to take some getting used to.  We are fortunate to live in an area where most people are mask compliant.  Still, those new variants popping up are not only more transmissible but also cause more serious infections.  I'll dream about paint and scales, but till probably resist the temptation until more of our population has access to the vaccines.  Better safe than sorry!

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I Spell Relief "V-A-C-C-I-N-E"

After the stress and difficulty of trying to find available vaccine and then trying to get an appointment, the relief I feel after receiving my first Covid19 shot is just off the charts.

I saw another blogger mention vaccinefinder.org site as a useful place to find one's local vaccine possibilities and it worked great for Nevada although I was less successful in helping family in Oregon.  I was able to choose a location, a time and even which vaccine I preferred.  

The pharmacy could have organized the wait line better, but the actual facility was well organized.  I know we spent less time filling out paperwork, getting our shot and waiting the requisite fifteen minutes of monitoring than we did waiting in a very unorganized and definitely not socially-distanced line. But it was worth it!

I could picture little yellow minions running up to the mRNA bits circulating in my arm, chattering to each other in alarm and then getting down to business dealing with the new invader.  I can hardly wait until they meet the enemy on the 29th when we are scheduled to receive our second dose!  

Our side effects?  So minimal that they are almost not worth mentioning!  The mild soreness at the injection site didn't stop me from completing my upper body weightlifting routine or interfere with a good night's sleep.  

I don't know how we'll feel after the second injection, but knowing that we are one step closer to visiting the grand-daughters and the great-grandson will be worth any discomfort.  

It's completely amazing to me that Pfizer and Moderna both completely prevented any deaths in the clinical trials.  And that hospitalizations due to severe symptoms were non-existent.  I have so much respect and admiration for the scientists who worked on vaccine research that I can't even put it into words.  

It feels like a whole new world of possibilities has opened up.  Visiting with elderly relatives maskless!  Eventually travelling to hug our favorite kidlets!  Buying groceries knowing that I won't die or require hospitalization.  Might even chance some retail therapy to buy something that I don't need, on a whim.

Thank heavens I've lived in a time when polio and smallpox were conquered, when my children were protected from whooping cough and chicken pox (we have an extensive family history of shingles that I'm thrilled they won't have to suffer), and now we are fortunate to be rescued from the novel coronavirus. A safe vaccine that was created in less than a year, thanks to previous experience with SARS and cancer therapies. 

So, if you are on the fence, jump off and join me!  The grass really IS greener on this side!

Stay safe and healthy, friends.  Be kind and be thoughtful.