Vaccination Day

We got our second vaccinations yesterday. Mine was easy. A short drive to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, found convenient parking right off, entered the building about 20 minutes early, no problem, I was given a clipboard with a couple of forms to fill out, mostly questions about allergies, I have none, so everything was no, no, no, hand it back, we followed the arrows to the room where they give the shots, we went right in, I removed my jacket and cardigan, I remembered to wear a short sleeve shirt this time, the nurse stuck me with the needle, and that was that. We waited in a booth for fifteen minutes to make sure nothing untoward would occur, convulsions, cold sweats, talking in tongues, we just quietly conversed, the timer dinged, I raised my hand and a young pregnant woman took the timer, checked to see I was ok, bid us good day, and we left, two minutes after 11:00 a.m., my appointed time. R’s was more difficult: a drive to Delridge, easily the ugliest, most confusing neighborhood I’ve ever driven in, once again we missed the right turn, we should’ve stayed to the right but I went to the left and so we missed the correct turn off, no way to turn around, there was a big median divider, a young, disheveled man stood on the island holding a sign asking for assistance, whatever people might spare, an arm stuck out of the passenger side in the car ahead of us, a late 80s model of fading, splotchy, rusty red, gave the panhandler the old hippy peace sign, two V-shaped fingers, a strange gesture which we thought was a bit wanting, but the man returned the sign, a little confused, then the person in the car motioned to him to come closer as the traffic began to move and as soon as he closed in the person hurled a fistful of pennies at the ground. This was spectacularly mean, and augmented my animus toward Delridge. The GPS lady picked up from our new location and guided us the rest of the way to the site where the shots were begin given to the grocery workers. The weather was much warmer than last time and the dispensation of shots was a little better organized and R returned within a half hour. A few hours later, we’re both feeling fine, a bit woozy, a little phlegmatic, but good. I’m anxious to go eat at a restaurant, something we haven’t done in over a year, but R says they recommend not eating indoors even after a 2^nd vaccination, which I find irksome and disappointing. I’ve been growing increasingly accustomed to the idea that we may never return to a normal existence. R says it would take at least a 70% herd immunity for dining indoors at a restaurant to comfortably happen, and we still see people carelessly flouting guidelines and not social distancing or wearing masks. It’s crazy. The old world of mud and frogs and crowded restaurants and rock concerts and operas and ballets and sports events seems permanently a thing of the past. Instead, what I hear is continuing spikes of Covid worldwide and debris from Elon Musk’s exploded rocket landing in the fragile Boca Chica Ecological Preserve, threatening ocelots, sea turtles, and rare insects, such as the Boca Chica flea beetle.