SHOT OR NOT

ROLES CHANGE, or maybe it’s more accurate to say roles are layered on us.

I started life as a son, then a few years later the role of brother was added on. If you could ask my mom and dad how well I played these roles, hopefully I would get a B- or C+ (if you’re grading on the curve). My brother, on my role as big brother, would be more harsh if he were being fair about it. He had a couple of close calls with death (without intent or malice) from his big brother.

One had to do with me trying to create my own entry into the school science fair, third grade, best I remember. I cut the female end off of an extension cord, stripped the insulation back a bit and taped the bare ends of the wire to a small metal folding chair. I had my little brother all strapped in and was ready to plug in my experiment, testing the thesis of the electric chair, when my dad saw what’s was going on and saved my little brother, leaving me without a science fair project.

The other had to do, innocently enough, with me experimenting with making chlorine gas. Now that I think about it, it was just about this time that my parents began to encourage me to explore the arts rather than science.

While we’re on the subject of experiments, I want to give a shout out to Jonas Salk and Albert Bruce Sabin who, in the 1950s, developed separate vaccines—one from killed virus and the other from live virus—to combat the dreaded disease polio. We’ll come back to them.

The next role layer for me was that of husband when My Amazing-Missus said Yes!! (I’ve added both of the exclamation points, I don’t know if she was actually that excited.)

Then in 1981, Corey was born and I became Dad. And then in 1987, Kyle was born and I was Dad to two wonderful boys.

Over the years I’ve had many non-familial roles. For many of those I can’t believe how blessed I have been to get to play.

In November 2008, an event occured so profound that my next role even came with a name change. Our first Grand-Girl was born and I became Pops. Now there are seven: five girls, two boys. This is a role I cherish so much I started keeping a journal about it all. Over time that became a blog—a blog about this role—About being Pops.

That’s a long swirling introduction to the point of this particular post. It is a post to say YES, I WILL TAKE THE COVID VACCINATION AS SOON AS SOMEONE WILL GIVE IT TO ME.

The oldest of our two Grand-Sons is Malachi. He’s three. On the rare occasions we get to see him and the others these days because of the virus, departing is always hard. Malachi has these beautiful curious eyes that look deep in you. His mouth is always in a sort of half smile.

MALACHI AND POPS

Every time we have to leave after a visit, he looks through my eyes and into my heart and says, “Can I go to yours [sic] house?”

My Amazing-Missus and I were talking about the exciting news of a vaccine potential and she asked if I would be willing to take an early version of it. I told her, “All I have to do is picture Malachi asking, “Can I go to yours house?” and they can shoot anything they want into any vein they choose. I AM READY!

I have an important role to play. Being Pops gives meaning and significance to my life. I can’t do it if I’m on a ventilator or worse. I know, I know. Some say the vaccine could be riskier than the disease.

When I was about five years old, my parents lined me up with hundreds of other kids at the elementary school to get a sugar cube soaked with a dose of live polio virus. Was it dangerous? Of course it was. Was it worth it? Of course it was. Were my parents terrified? I’m sure they were. They had a role to play. They decided that love meant trusting science and praying for the best.

So shoot me.