It is a beautiful sunny morning, Saturday. I have been prepping and cooking in the kitchen this morning, getting ready for a zoom cooking class - Coconut Chicken or Tofu Curry. I have been coming back to my seat and bench at the window as I have been working through the steps of our dish. The Bluejays are have decided to stop by this morning, and I am appreciating the blue flashes through my little woods.
I like Saturday mornings, I listen to NPR - and this morning there was an excellent program: Is it ever ok to jump ahead in the covid line?
I have been rolling over questions regarding who is getting the vaccine and who is not. I received a phone call from my health care providers office last Wednesday and Thursday morning I received my vaccine at Penobscot Valley Hospital. This is one of two hospitals that my health care clinic referred me to. But I had also gone online and registered at a number of other sites. There was no guidance to where you should sign up....so I just barreled ahead with my privilege and my comfort of working online and signed up.
Yesterday when volunteering at the Patten Clinic put on by Millinocket Regional Hospital, I talked with the staff who were organizing all the vaccine days and shots. We talked about community people getting the community vaccine. Then today I listened as ethicists, health care professional and community organizers talking about all of the historical patterns that are already completely apparent in the roll out of the vaccine.
I hope we become more transparent. I hope that it becomes clearer about who and why groups of people and individuals are getting their vaccines ahead of others. How can we help to make sure people are getting the vaccine, know how to sign up or to get help to sign up.
On my SAGE - Equality Maine cooking class today we were all talking about the vaccine. The volunteers from Equality Maine did a great job sharing accurate information. We could all agree that more vaccines are needed, and more support to help people navigate yet another maze in their lives.
My euphoria has lessened, I feel the weight of how far we have to go, and how it is that we will step up. I know we will get better, and I hope that resources will go to the places and people that are so vulnerable, at risk and often forgotten.
On a much lighter note, from the first days of moving to Maine (which is fours years this month) I have loved all the ocean related bits of news that happen day to day. Tides, gale strength winds, and then the random, quirky stories like the "rare yellow lobster". It makes me laugh. Even though I am not "on the coast" I am just a couple of hours away and I enjoy these moments of coast news and culture coming my way!
The ocean is not so very near, but Shin Pond is and it is looking good and has a good covering of snow. Tomorrow I am going back out with my Kick Sled....more adventures to come.
It is Saturday. These four years of retirement seems like they have flown by, except when they don't. For all my friends and family in the midwest, "Stay Warm". Winter is making its mark.
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