Grateful for my first shot.

Annandale, Virginia | April 2021

I got my first vaccination shot on April 14th Needless to say, I have lots of thoughts and feelings. Mostly just a huge sense of relief.

I got Pfizer which is the one I had felt partial to despite being willing to take which ever I had access to first. It is funny to realize that I actually have developed a preference despite there not being any substantial reason for that preference, given there are no discernible differences as far as protectiveness. Yet there it is, a general sense that I wanted a vaccination that used the mRNA technology and that Pfizer was my “preferred brand.” The way our brains work is fascinating.

I was able to get my appointment at an urgent care center five minutes from my house. I had seen a posting on Nextdoor that they were allowing anyone to register (here in Fairfax County most places have only been taking registrations for those in Phase 1). I checked it out and they were asking the appropriate screening questions so I was able to register without misrepresenting myself. I figured that I would probably not hear back from them until closer to when vaccinations were being opened up to those of us in Phase 2 (those of us with “non-essential” jobs who can easily stay home and have no health issues.)

About a week later on Friday, I got a voice mail saying that I could call for an appointment. I actually did not notice the message until Saturday evening after they were closed. I don’t always check my voice messages since I don’t get a lot of phone calls and I was expecting to hear from them via email (which I was checking religiously to make sure I did not miss a message.) Luckily they were open on Sunday when I called and I was scheduled for an appointment in 2 weeks.

The night before the appointment, my anxiety decided to kick in and keep me up (which also served to remind me it has actually been awhile since I’ve had middle of the night anxiety.) I had a couple of dreams where I was waiting in an overcrowded hallway for my vaccine and realized that I was not wearing a mask. Or where I was running incredibly late and getting lost on the way to my appointment.

My appointment was not until 4pm and I had it in the back of my mind that maybe I would get there and they would not have any record of it (I had actually called back after I made my appointment to ask if I would be getting any sort of email confirmation of the appointment and they had told me that the phone call was my confirmation. Yikes.)

Turns out that they did have my appointment (yay!) and they got me in and out quickly. Took a whole 5 minutes to get the vaccine. Had a delightful conversation with my nurse about how appreciative I was and how she enjoys this part of her job. The longest part was waiting the 15 mins. My follow up appointment is scheduled for May 5th.

All in all, I am happy with how easy the process was (and happy that the only side effects with this shot was a sore arm.) The hardest part was the period of knowing that you will be getting a shot but not having any idea of when you will become eligible, much less be able to get an appointment. Which could change in a blink of an eye. My neighbor across the street was not expecting to get an appointment but then got a call from INOVA saying she could come in the next day. Another friend who lives outside of Richmond had registered on the state-wide registration system (which did allow pre-registration, Fairfax County has been using their own system) and got the call from out of the blue before she was officially eligible and could come in the end of the week. So I knew it was going to happen. Just had no idea when.

It really is such an incredible undertaking when you think about it. All that had to come together from the development of the vaccine to the logistics of the roll-out to the majority of people choosing to actively do something not only to protect themselves but to protect our entire community. Truth is, getting the shot was actually pretty easy for how big of a deal it is. For that I am grateful.

Jason and Kyle have gotten their shots. Jason in Fredericksburg on April 20th the day after they opened up Phase 2 in Virginia (Moderna) and Kyle in Vermont on April 27th (Pfizer). It is looking like Kyle will need to get his 2nd shot back here in Virginia as the timing would not give him enough time to recover if he does not feel well before having to be out of the dorm. So his plan is to get it the day after he gets back home which should not be hard to do as they have now opened walk-in clinics in addition to being able to schedule appointments.

So now I am in this liminal moment…not fully vaccinated, but safer. But also feeling like I want to hunker down even more because who wants to make it this far only to get sick? Which parallels what our whole country is going through—not quite out of the woods yet, but finally feeling like we might be getting closer.

Of course, then we get to figure out how we want our new post-pandemic lives to look like. I, for one, am happy to take it slow. To be intentional about what I am adding back in and what I want to keep. It makes me happy to realize that in 2.5 weeks I will be able to be inside without a mask with a friend who is one week ahead of me. And by the end of May I will be able to go to Fredericksburg to see Jason and Megan’s apartment they’ve been in for a year which I have yet to see (they moved in April 2020.) Maybe we’ll even grab lunch (outside or take-out still for the time being.) But I can’t wait to finally be able sit in their apartment with them without a mask and to be able to give them a hug!

A little wild to realize how happy it makes me to have something so simple, yet so huge, to look forward to.