For Better or Worst

This should be one of the best days in the past year. Grant and I got our initial vaccines. Not without some chaos on our part, because we first drove to the wrong convention center. That was solved by putting the correct name and address in Google Maps. Once there, we got in line with about 100 cars ahead of us and followed the signs designating the driving path through the parking lot. The line moved almost consistently. I could just take my foot off the brake, and the car rolled fast enough to keep up. Once we got to the underground staging area, we presented our QR codes, answered some health questions, and received our printed shot information to stick on our sleeves. We were directed to one of the 16 staffed areas, and the first of the glitches appeared. The nurse said she couldn’t give me my shot because I carry an EpiPen for my honey bee allergy. Fortunately, a manager was able to override the software, I promised to call my doctor if anything felt odd, and the nurse fired away.

Now Grant. The nurse said his application was denied because he takes blood thinner. Really? I guarantee you that half of the old farts there are on blood thinner. Yes, the manager said, however, this would have to be overridden by a doctor. Fortunately, there was one there, who zoomed up on a hoverboard! Grant explained his blood thinner regimen and history. All good, status would be updated. And we waited. The computers went down. We waited. We chatted again with the doctor, this time about his hoverboard which was a birthday present from his wife after he’d said it was too pricey. He was really glad he had it go back and forth in this football-field sized staging area. Another staffer scanned Grant’s sticker and confirmed the status needed to be updated. More chat. The computers came back up, and cars started rolling through again. We were asked to pull ahead, so they could process other people. 

Eventually, a different manager told us Grant was 4th in line to have his status changed. By now, we’ve both had to be escorted to the bathrooms (no random getting out to the car), eaten our bacon and salami sandwiches, and read or listened to a book. I tried to participate in my weekly 5:30 Zoom call with my high school girlfriends, but my car’s system took over the audio, and I couldn’t seem to mute it when I needed to talk to nurses. 

One more round of scanning, status updated, and Grant got his shot. Most people seemed to take about 30 minutes from getting to driving off. We were there 2 hours, then had to wait another 15 minutes to have Grant observed for any distress. Best 2 hours we ever spent. Even though we fell through the cracks, I am amazed how efficiently the whole process was. Thank you, health workers, scientists, administrators, parking attendants.

No thank you to the clods who stormed our nation’s capital building, tearing up the place, and disrupting the count of Electoral College ballots. All this rampage to just destroy with no hope of changing the outcome. No thank you to our senators and representatives who wasted our precious public trust by objecting to some of those ballots, again with no hope of changing the outcome. And no thank you to our not-gone-soon-enough current President who told lie after lie about the election, claiming fraud when election officials and judges said there was none, with no hope of changing the outcome. Joe Biden was elected and will be President.