Day 155: Get Inoculated!

[For starters, I should confess that the title is misleading. The definition of inoculated, to my understanding, is to have cells from a virus inserted into your body in order to create an autoimmune response. The title may suggest that the Covid Vaccine does that. Rest assured, it does not and the title is just a eye-rollingly cheap reference to an LCD Soundsystem song. You know, the one from GTA IV. So to make it clear, the Covid Vaccine is not an inoculation and I am bad at making titles.]

I sent “It is done” to the appropriate people. I would like to say some typical shit like, “I can feel it in my veins”, but truth be told, I can’t. I feel nothing. But I know it’s done. And as long as nothing bad happens for 15 minutes while I sit in this auditorium, I’ll be let out into the world. I can feel the movement behind my eyes, as the panic still hasn’t dissipated. I probably should have ate more. I probably should have drank more water. I probably should have done a lot of things, but I didn’t. But one thing I did do was get my second shot and that’s all that matters.

I realize that I’m one of the lucky ones. If I were living anywhere else in America, I wouldn’t be even close to getting mine. The government has failed us and it shows in how slow this rollout has been. There’s a lot of people that I wish were sitting with me. Instead of doing that, my mom is sitting in church, hoping that her and my dad can get one soon. Even though they’re eligible, they have no idea when they’ll be able to get it. If you have the opportunity, take it. Because there’s millions of people that want to be in your position right now and millions more that wish they had.

I also know that the road ahead is going to suck. Since I had no reactions to the first dose, I’m wholly prepared for the worst. I’ve got tomorrow off, 5 Gatorades in the fridge and a whole playlist of old baseball games that I can watch in bed. It could get ugly and I’m a complete wuss. But I have to keep reminding myself that this is for the better. Also, no matter how miserable I feel, it’s only temporary. Also, I have the capacity to breathe, which makes the side effects 10000% better than full-blown Covid.

Don’t expect much from me in the next few days. I’ll still write, but it might be a bunch of feverish haikus about cotton candy. I’m just going to writhe in bed and try to imagine a better world that’s to come.

A world where I can go outside and breathe freely.

A world where I can go to a baseball game and cry tears of joy as Pete Alonso mashes dinger after dinger.

A world where I don’t have to be afraid of every person I see.

A world where a cough is just a cough.

A world that we all deserve.

And a world that you should give yourself, if given the chance.

And if you have that chance, please take it and help us rebuild this better world.

My 15 minutes are up.

Deep breath.

See you on the other side.

– TeeCoZee