VACCINE

I'm Kent Brindley; and this is my COVID Vaccine story.

I don't think that anyone could have predicted what 2020 was going to bring us as a nation, let alone as the world, when we first entered 2020, looking ahead with anticipation for that the future might hold for us.

What it held for us instead was fear for the health of our loved ones, mask mandates, government instituted lockdowns, days/months in unemployment, changed plans for Memorial Day or Forth of July, cancelled trips/concerts/sporting events/special events, very different birthday celebrations, or Thanksgivings and Christmases in isolation, if only so that our loved ones would still be here NEXT Thanksgiving or Christmas.

If anyone could have predicted that 2020 would include COVID-19, we would have no longer looked forward to it in anticipation but only looked ahead in trepidation.

Then, one day, there WAS a beacon of hope at the end of the tunnel. Vaccines against COVID-19 began to get rolled out for anyone in the public who wished to receive them.

On to MY story (as up until now, ANYONE could have identified with this story). I am very blessed that the gym where I am employed is, on technicality, interconnected with a larger hospital chain. That meant that, very recently, I was eligible to request my first COVID Vaccine appointment.

It turns out that I'm not only on the heavier side, I only have one kidney and a poorly functioning thyroid. This put ME as an individual at risk. I do still have elderly family members with health conditions of their own (my extended family had already dealt with the pandemic last summer) and some family and friends who are working on "the front lines" of this pandemic right now. For my own safety and the health and safety of those around me AND to play a role in ending COVID-19, and the lockdowns that came with it, a little bit sooner, I proudly did my part and received my first vaccination on January 2nd.

My second COVID...vaccination will be this Saturday and I will know that I have helped to do my part to curb this pandemic for my family and friends and for the community around me.

I understand that there are some people who still have trepidations about receiving the COVID Vaccine. That was especially understandable when they first began distributing the Vaccines and people had little concept of what side effects could be. I am proud to report that the "side-effect" for me following my first vaccine was to lie down that night, having forgotten that I had even had a needle in one of my shoulders earlier, let alone which shoulder it was. Oops. I corrected which side I was laying on and slept just like...well, just like a normal night for me.

I digress; I am about to receive my second Vaccine on Saturday and can only hope for similar results with few side-effects.

Once again, I am doing this for more than myself; it is also for my family, friends, colleagues, neighbors, and community at large. I am doing what I can to fulfill my part; you can do what you feel is best for your community.

I'm not writing this to say that there is only ONE way to combat COVID and put these days behind us. I am not here to pat myself on the back for my own efforts, as if I'm doing anything so special that others around me haven't already done. There are those who have served on the frontlines all through 2020 and THEY deserve far more respect than I do here. There is more than one way to beat COVID and put these days behind us; I am sure that you are doing your part in your own way. I wish you and your loved ones health, wealth, and happiness in 2021. May we put the days of COVID-19 and memories of 2020 behind us.