Tom and I got our first Covid-19 vaccination a week ago. You may have noticed that I seemed a little depressed in last week’s blog, and I was. I didn’t see an end to the pandemic situation and I was focusing on all the things I wanted to do and couldn’t. Pretty pitiful.
The very day I wrote the post about dreaming of traveling, however, was the day that Governor DeWine announced they were lowering the vaccination age to 60. Finally, a reason to celebrate! On Thursday, March 4, we were allowed to schedule a vaccination and Tom and I were on the computer right away signing up. Compared to the frustration my parents had with signing up, Tom and I didn’t have any problem at all. We weren’t allowed to register at Ohio Health until they notified us, so we signed up on the CVS website. The website told us what sites had appointments available, we chose the one closest to us, and filled in all the information. Within 15 minutes we had times and a place for our Covid-19 vaccination.
That afternoon we contacted a National Park Site we are interested in volunteering at, and they offered us a position right away. So we will be at Fort Union Trading Post Historical Site in Williston, North Dakota this summer. We are excited about being back on the road and in the National parks before long.
On Sunday we drove to New Lexington, Ohio, about an hour away from Westerville, and got our vaccinations. I was very impressed with how organized the CVS was. They had two people giving the vaccinations and so the line moved really quickly. After they gave me the vaccination, they gave me a little timer set to 15 minutes and told me to stay in the store until the 15 minutes were up. Once the timer went off, I headed out to the car to wait until Tom came out. His appointment was for 90 minutes after mine, but they moved him up so we could get out faster.
During the 15 minutes I waited for the timer I got to browse in CVS. I haven’t browsed in a store for a year! I was inordinately pleased just to look at shampoo and Easter candy. After the second vaccination, I will be able to do that more often and I am really looking forward to it.
After we both got our Covid-19 vaccination, we headed home. But it was a beautiful day so we had to do a little sightseeing. We drove around New Lexington and found the courthouse and a statue of Januarius MacGahan, Champion of Bulgarian Freedom. We saw the statue of General Phillip Sheridan in Somerset and had a wonderful, long walk around the Lake Trail of Dawes Arboretum. Tom and I even noted a couple of other places to see on our trip to New Lexington for our second shots.
I am amazed and excited by how much our lives, and my outlook, have changed in a week. I am saying special prayers of thanksgiving for the companies who developed the vaccines and to Governor DeWine who has tried to keep Ohioans safe. I’m hoping that everyone can get vaccinated soon and we can get back to the people, places, and things that we love.