Today I had to pick up a pair of thinning shears we had sent out to get sharpened. All was fine until I looked across the street and saw a Blood Drive happening at the church. I decided then and there that it had been a while, so....Since my shopper-friendly town allows thirty-minutes of free parking before nailing you with a $10 ticket, I thought it would be a good idea to leave a note on the window saying I was donating blood, which I knew would take more than half an hour (I guess it worked - there was no ticket). The drive was sponsored by the local Hannaford grocery chain, which is really a part of the Brussels-based Delhaize Group. Fortunately the store's workers and today's volunteers are all still local, which adds a pleasant, friendly atmosphere (as did the wonderful cheese and crackers, grapes, drinks, and other goodies they supplied).
On the plus side, all went pretty well - I didn't tell the nurses about my world-traveling, African, intravenous-drug-using, newly tattooed wife who gets "friendly" with HIV-active, uh, well, friends, but that's my business, not theirs (ONLY KIDDING! [I can see the Red Cross people gasping about now!]). Seriously, I checked out well enough to donate! I was reminded of the scene in "Beetlejuice" when he's sitting in the Waiting Room of Lost Souls. I was number 29, but it may as well have been the one Beetlejuice himself got before he switched it.
Anyhow, when I finally made it onto the donation lounger (you know, the beach-chair like thing), I knew I was good to go. My nurse, it turns out, and I have a past. - we were once naked together - me on an operating table and she under her uniform. When I wrote Berman's Bits for the area paper, her husband was my editor (small world). In the middle of my draining, two other nurses replaced her - one was in training. Her mentor said things like, "Be sure to shake his thing" and "Shake his bag" (seriously, she really did say that! Until I knew what she was referring to, I wasn't sure what to think!) Fortunately, the second nurse was a good learner and got it all right.
When I was all done, and I was finally ready to leave (the whole thing took 2-1/2 hours), the skies opened up and it poured! It was one of those storms I thought people only saw in Florida. I ran (as much as my ancient body let me) to my car and was literally soaked to the skin! Of course, within a mile, the rain had passed and the sun was out, and so it goes.
I gave my first blood in 1967. I was in the National Guard at basic training (Fort Dix, NJ) and was given the choice of an afternoon off if I donated. I figured it couldn't be worse than the training. I was right. Today was my 48th time giving!
Later.
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