Wearing A Mask or Getting A Flu Shot

"Choices, Choices, Choices-we all have them." Over thirty years ago, I received a resume and a cover letter that started with those words.  I loved the cover letter and actually saved it and I remember the woman's name was Deborah or Debbie.  Unfortunately, I never got to interview her for the job, because she certainly was creative. (I was hiring for a high school rep)

The other day I had an unusual choice-wear a mask or get a flu shot.  I deliver to two hospitals and in the Myrtle Beach Hospital I have to get a pass to get to an office on a restricted floor.  They decided to put someone else in charge of the passes and now I could get my own permanent pass.  I was told to stop at Human Resources because they needed more information.

As it turned out, they took my picture for the pass and told me I couldn't keep the pass, I would still have to pick it up from someone each time I needed it.  Then, things got odder.  They asked if I had a flu shot and I told them that I never have had one.  They gave me a choice: they would give me a free flu shot or I would have to wear a mask while I delivered in the hospital.

I've been delivering to the hospital almost every day for eighteen months now, but apparently this has been a rule the entire time.  I don't like wearing anything on my face ever and since I'm sometimes in the hospital for an hour, this was an easy choice.  I didn't want the flu shot either, but I gave in to it.

The first question I was asked is: "are you allergic to eggs?"  I guess something in the shot has something you find in eggs? Am I getting a shot of yolk? Probably not, but I did get the shot.  The one side effect is that in the first 24 hours you could have numbness in your extremities.  I have passed that test with flying colors.

A long time ago I heard someone say that the most powerful word there is, is choice.  The power to choose what to do, where to go, who to be, and how to think.  We all do have choices every day that we make and as Indiana Jones was told at the end of the movie, "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", we should all "choose wisely."  On a much less famous note, I remember the funny farewell that one of my riders gave me.  He had been up all night and at 6:30 am on a Sunday morning I dropped him off for what he said was, "a hook-up."  As he walked away from my car, he stopped, turned around, and said to me, "make good choices." (that still makes me laugh)