Monday morning, I decided to act upon a hot tip from a Facebook “vaccine hunter” board and try to book appointments at 9 a.m. I was able to secure appointments for today for both my husband and I (less than an hour apart).

No, I didn’t take a “vaccination selfie” and display my vax card (though I did take a photo of my card).

Nothing is ever simple, is it? Well, the drive out to our vaccine site wasn’t simple!

Today, my husband drove me to work and picked me up since we only have one car. He wanted to allow plenty of time to drive out to our appointment about 24 minutes away (by Google maps reckoning), which as it turned out, was a smart, smart move. There was bumper to bumper traffic along the freeway just a few miles away from where we were “supposed” to get off the freeway, so we exited the freeway early and took an alternate route. I had a paper map of the area to help us (we don’t use GPS on a phone or GPS device) so we were able to arrive with extra time to spare at an elementary school. Then we sat, and sat, and sat for a bit in the car. And waited until my appointment time was close, and I walked in.

Overall, it was a very smooth process. The hallways in the school were set up with a sign-in area, a place to watch a video about the vaccines we were to receive (Pfizer, which was a last minute change from the Johnson & Johnson doses were were originally told we were going to receive), then we got the actual jabs themselves. A nice little old lady gave me my pinprick, my husband said a “cute Asian girl” gave him his. Hey – anything to help improve his cranky mood, I say!

Considering some of the negative hype around the Johnson & Johnson vaccines (mass contaminations, negative reactions, etc.), maybe we dodged a bullet. Seriously – 15 million doses contaminated? How does that happen? That’s more than enough to fully vaccinate the entire city of Buenos Aires, Argentina (even all of those ex Nazis who might still be hiding there). That is a staggering number.

After we all got stabbed and had whimsical bandages slapped on our arms (I got a happy face emoji bandage, my husband’s was plain) , we were to sit six feet apart from everyone else in the school gym for 15 minutes (and make our second appointments, if need be). When I went to check out, the guy looked at the time stamp on my vax card and said “You’re supposed to be here for another seven minutes. But I’m not going to tackle you to make you stay.” Gee, thanks, mister!

I said “My husband is waiting for his appointment in the car. I promise I’ll come back in if I have any reactions to my shot.”

When I got back to the car, it was almost time for my better half to go in for the same mass vax ritual. And time for me to play some appropriate music!

This means as of May 18, 2021, my husband and I should have so-called “full immunity” from this COVID virus. Hoo boy! I hope this doesn’t mean people expect me to (shudder) HUG them – or French kiss them – or tolerate their company for more than five minutes (JK, JK)! Yes, yes…it will be nice to see my family in in a “normal” fashion again, I suppose. And maybe get a real haircut!