Wednesday noon, I went downstairs from my apartment in my retirement community to check my mail; with much of life here shut down for COVID protections (social distancing, dining room closed and all that) there’s really not much else to do.
While I was down there getting the mail, Ellen, one of my favorite concierges (that’s what they call the front desk folks), flagged me over. “Do you want to get your COVID shot tomorrow?” I was surprised; I knew that the parent company of the community had put all their facilities on the vaccine list with one of the national pharmacies, but while the assisted living and memory care ones got their inoculations fairly quickly, our category (independent living) was still waiting even though we do have some pretty old folks here (a few actually have hit 100, with a lot of others in their 80s and 90s). Of course I said, “Sure!”, not knowing how long I’d have to wait for Kaiser to get their allotments, and this way someone else who had no other option would be able to move up a space.
I signed up for a noon appointment, group 10. But about 11:15, Francisco (my favorite maintenance guy; he’d just been in the day before fixing my kitchen sink which was overflowing with water) knocked on the door and said, “They’re running ahead of schedule, get down there!” So I grabbed my consent form and my tablet and dashed down the elevator. (Faster than the stairs for me.) I checked in, staff took down my insurance information (probably so they could have my records updated) and I got my shot, then I had to wait for 15 minutes before leaving so they could make sure there were no severe reactions.
If all continues to go well, I’ll be getting my second shot on March 4 — which happens to be my 62nd birthday. I know I’m among the younger members of the general public to get the vaccine, but because I live here (with a bunch of really old people) plus I do have some medical conditions that would put me at really high-risk for complications if I got COVID I was able to get the okay when I went in.
I’m glad I got Part 1 and will be getting Part 2, because right now I feel like my life is in a holding pattern. I want to start moving forward — exploring my new town, maybe even take a community college class or two so I can meet people — but till we’re past the worst of the virus and enough people are vaccinated, I’m stuck. Wednesday marked 9 months since my status changed from Married to Widowed — while I probably will never marry again (I’m actually getting used to having my own space I don’t have to share!), I wouldn’t mind meeting someone for companionship and yes, maybe a bit of romance/intimacy as well.
I ended up never even getting dressed today — just a few minutes ago I showered and put on fresh pajamas so I’ll look a little better when the dining room staff delivers my soup and fruit cup (not a big fan of tonight’s dinner, egg rolls, so I’m having the chicken noodle soup and I saved my green salad from lunch to have with dinner; might heat up a frozen dinner in the microwave as well). Weekends are usually the worst for me since there are no scheduled activities; Sundays are a bit better since I have Zoom church services so I at least have to look presentable. I have these days but fortunately they haven’t been too frequent…usually early in the month around the time Mr. Scribe left me. I’m muddling through for now, but I need to get a life in order to move forward.
So, how’s things by all of you?