Reflections on Tetanus Shots

(Written March 2007 when I just saved the things I wrote.)

Last week (Friday) I got a tetanus shot. March 9 2007. I don’t have to get another one till 2017. That’s a long time from now. There aren’t a whole lot things that you have to renew that you only have to do every 10 years. (Passports would be the other.) Most things are either done permanently, continually, or every year or so. You are born and die once. You can get married once. (preferable). You eat, breath, go to the bathroom continuously. It’s never done. And then there’s the rent every month, bills, shopping, oil changes, gas fill-ups, taxes, car registrations, voting, doctor’s appointments, etc.

But 10 years is a long time. Long enough to forget that you need it, or what things were like the last time you got a shot. I remember liking my last tetanus shot, bizarre as that seems, because it made the muscle in my arm tighten up in a funny way. Anyway, last got my shot June of 1996, which was the summer after 8th grade. I hadn’t even been to high school yet!

So, what’s going on now? Well, that Friday I had parent teacher conferences, and the afternoon off, so I took it upon myself to get vaccinated. (9 months too late, but had also cut myself on a fence the week before at Frostbite.) That day, I got liquid ant bait as a present from a parent. Do you want to know how to graciously accept a gift of liquid ant bait? 1) Don’t really look at the box too much in order to pretend that you get that sort of thing ALL the time. 2) Smile sweetly, sincerely and calmly express your thanks. Try not to make any comments about how you’ve always wanted this, because of course that’s not true and then the whole genuine thing will be exposed as a fake.

But the larger event was that my parents got a DOG. Actually, my mom got a dog, something she had swore off for YEARS. And there it was. Very cute. We did not finalize the dog’s name that day, but in the end, she received “Taxi” a name that I came up with for a joke. It stands for “no taxation without representation” of course.

I also went on a a walk with Elly, who I still see from time to time, but we are in very different situations in life. She’s expecting her second boy in May.

I called three people about the dog. Then, that night I told the girls at our 2nd Friday of the month dinner: Holley, Catherine, and Sara Keeton. We went to Zoe, which is a pan-asian restaurant in the Central West End. That night, and that week I was in a big fluster about things going on in my life.