Take a Shot at This

It's snowing, so we are indoors doing indoorsy things.  I already made a chocolate cheesecake for my daughter's and my mom's birthdays tomorrow (yes, they were born on the same day 60 years apart).  I made other food too.  Pretty soon we're going to go outside to see how the snow saucers work on our hills. But just now, I said to my younger daughter, "What should I blog about today?"  She said, "Shots."  I asked, "Shots?"  She said, "Yeah, like how it's weird that we go to a doctor and let them stick a needle in us and inject something we don't even understand into our bloodstream."  She's almost 19.  The one who will be 23 tomorrow said, "You mean like immunizations?  Well those are just dead or maimed viruses."  When they were younger they had different thoughts about shots.

I'm going to refer to my kids by their initials.  Maybe I shouldn't bother, but I don't want my blog to haunt them when people google their names.  This picture is of DH, BL and KM in 1996.

It was 1996 when we decided it was time to get the varicella vaccine-- that's the vaccine against chicken pox.  You see, I never have had chicken pox myself and from what I understand, it can be quite dangerous for adults.  Therefore, I had always done everything in my power to keep the kids from being exposed and it worked.  None of the three of them ever got them.

When the vaccine came out, our doctor recommended that the three kids and I get the vaccine.  All at the same time.  This was risky business because both girls were needle-phobic.  Usually I handled the kids doctor visits by myself while my husband was at work, but this time I called in the reinforcements.  It was an exciting afternoon.  BL was 2, KM was 6 and DH (our son) was 9.  I was 36.  They lined us all up, sitting on an examination table.  DH was first.  His shot was administered and he said, "Ow."  KM was next, and as she saw the needle coming, she shouted, "NO-NO-NO-NO-NO!" as loud as she could.  That didn't help poor little BLs nerves, so by the time her turn came, she just shrieked a long continuous shriek that sounded like it could shatter glass.  She was a little hoarse for a few hours after that.  I am happy to report that I remained silent as the needle slid into my flesh.

BL wants you to know that she has gained control of herself now and can endure immunizations without a whimper.  She says she's like "an oasis of calm."  We're not so sure about KM.  Just kidding. But hey, we've never had to endure chicken pox and we're supposed to be protected from shingles too, so the temporary trauma was so worth it.

Here's two of them, even now reaping the benefits of their chicken pox-free life...  it's KM and BL themselves!