Gonna lead with the big news here- I got my first Covid shot this week, two days after my state opened it up for everyone over 18 years old to get the vaccine, and faster than I expected I’d be able to get it.

I spent a good part of the day it opened looking for shots offered by CVS, counties, cities, etc. and had signed up for a number of standby lists. My husband sent me an email from his school district alerting to a mass vaccination event in the city of Gonzales. Checked the website- LOTS of appointment times were still available so I booked one for noon- I was in!

I then sent the link on the vaccination event to all the friends and family I could think of. My cousin and his wife and my neighbor ended up snagging spots as well. (Everyone else was already set) Heck, my neighbor could get a shot through the City of Gonzales faster than she could through the VA!

I spent more time worried about what to wear to get vaccinated than I did worried about the shot itself, though I did look it up just to ensure I knew the details on it. Not that it mattered because I was taking it, regardless.

My fashion decision was that I had to be comfortable since it was an hour drive away, and that I should wear something with short sleeves. There was also a cold front moving in that had to be factored in. Careful consideration meant I ignored all my clothes hanging in my closet and wore jeans, a t-shirt, a denim jacket (in case it was cold), and my Birkenstock sandals (in case it was warm). It amazes me how often my sartorial decision making leads me exactly to the same outfit.

But the greatest thing (aside from the shot that is a lifesaver and all) was this all happened in Gonzales. Y’all know Gonzales right? So the Mexican government gave the Texans a small canon in 1831. Since the Texans were being dicks and trying to secede, the Mexican government was ordered to take back the canon. This led to the first land battle of the Texas Revolution where the Mexican army was met with the “Come and take it” flag, a small skirmish, and the Texans keeping the canon.

My point in this is that the City of Gonzales mass vaccination event missed a HUGE opportunity for fundraising if they had just tweaked that image a bit. If they had just put the logo below on a shirt I would have dropped $20 on it SO fast.

It was a beautiful drive from my town to Gonzales. Rolling hills, green grass, and wildflowers. My GPS did lead us to the back entrance though: just fields with a gravel road with an open gate. My neighbor (who went with me) and I just sat there for a while and discussed it before deciding to turn down it even though there were no signs posted. It was a bit weird. The gravel road led the back to the expo hall through the barns used for cattle. Odd but it still got us there.

Once inside everything was wide open- tables for getting temps taken, stations for filling out paperwork, and then 10 tables of folks getting the shots by nurses. They moved people through quickly. Fifteen minutes after we walked in there I was having to put on a brave face (I HATE getting shots) as I didn’t want to make an exaggerated grimace or anything as we were all a bit on display. Waited fifteen minutes in a plastic chair, got told when we were cleared to go how great it was that “young people” like us were getting the shot (neighbor and I laughed because… yeah. Young people.) and we were back on the road actually before our official appointment times. (We’d gotten there early, as recommended on the sign up, but didn’t have to wait at all.)

Since I’d driven with my neighbor I didn’t have a chance to stop at the Gonzales historic cemetery, or wax poetic in my own head about the whole thing, or do any deep thinking. We chit chatted about work and then the whole thing was over before it even felt like it had begun.

So momentous but also not in the slightest? Once home I celebrated with a Mexican plate lunch of two enchiladas and a crispy taco and then couldn’t tell if I was tired because of that lunch or because of the shot.

I got the Moderna shot, so will be going back on the 28th for the 2nd shot- maybe I can send the city a mock up for the t-shirts in time for that event.

I was a bit tired the day of, had a bit of a headache 2 days after, and my arm was sore for a couple of days.

A month after that second shot I’ll be as fully immune as is possible to be. What does that mean about if life gets more normal or not? I’m not sure yet. It’s going to be a weird and partially brave new world, perhaps.

Oh- and about the whole Texas Revolution thing. Like the Alamo… belonged to the Mexican government? The Texans were breaking a ton of laws… that weren’t even that onerous like the British ones in the American Revolution? The canon in Gonzales… was the Mexican government’s? Like Santa Anna was a jerk and all, but William Travis had some serious mercury poisoning due to treating syphllis… and the Alamo wasn’t even a strategic location. The more you read on it the more the whole story looks less and less like the heroic propaganda version of things we were taught in eighth grade for Texas Histrory class. In fact you start wondering: