Wished I was older than I do right now. Three years and nine elusive months older and I would be eligible for the life-saving, virus-busting, normality-restoring coronavirus vaccine. For those of us who used to ask “What did you do this weekend?” by the non-existent water cooler (Answer these days, btw: “Nothing”), the big question on everybody’s lips now is:”Have you gotten the vaccine?”

My Mom (who requests her age undisclosed, but let’s just say she qualifies for the vaccine) got her first shot last week! Yippee! She was scheduled to get one weeks ago at Baptist Hospital, but they ran out of vaccines before she got hers. Her boyfriend Bob is a dentist, so he was able to get it weeks ago, so they’re both safe, sound and COVID-free at home in the Gables.

I’ve had quite a few friends who have gotten the vaccine already. A nurse in my Book Club who works at Baptist was the first person I knew, followed by someone who worked at U.M., but is younger than me (?). Peggy, a friend in Tallahassee, is past the magic age and just got her second dose last week. My friend Katy in Orlando, works as a massage therapist in a Doctor’s office, so she was able to get her first dose last week. Getting an appointment to receive the COVID vaccine is like winning the Golden Ticket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Everyone is hoping to score one.

And there’s a new vaccine with Johnson and Johnson, not as effective as the others but it can be kept in a regular fridge for 3 months, so that seems like a viable option. I think I would take it, even if it’s not as effective as the others, because it’s better than nothing, which is what I have now. And vaccines are moving away from being given at Hospitals to drugstores like CVS & Walgreens and Publix.

Like Sam I Am, I would take it in a house, I would take it with a mouse, I would take it here or there, heck I would take it ANYWHERE!

And it seems like every day when I wake up, a new strain has emerged, from the U.K., South Africa and California. I feel it’s only a matter of time before a Miami strain emerges, because we always seems to have some hand in every troubling news story. But on the bright side, I can’t remember a winter in South Florida where we’ve had so many cold spells and such lovely weather. Just when it starts to warm up, another cold front blows in; I’m grateful that since I have to weather this Pandemic in the winter, I can do so in a place like Miami, where I’m not stuck inside.

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