One funny story I forgot from the weekend was when one of the kids I was with remembered that it was supposed to be a “supermoon” that night. He raised his arm at a right angle with his hand pointed at his face and solemnly intoned – “The Moon. The Sun goes down, the Moon comes up,” He’s 4 years old. It was a little funny and also every so slightly creepy. Even after he was sent to bed, the adults in the room would occasionally look at each other, raise arms, and solemnly intone -“The moon”.
I left work a little early today in order to get a bite to eat before my blood appointment. I stopped at McDonald’s on the way and as usual, the place was chaotic. Fryers beeping, customers ordering and arguing, kids fighting – the usual. I tried to tune things out and eat my nuggets in peace when I happened to catch a snatch of the music playing over the speakers. It was Annie Lennox – “No More I Love You’s”. Which is a beautiful and peaceful song. I focused in on that and actually ended up with a small smile on my face.
I got over to the donation site early and read through the materials – then sat down in the line waiting to be called. There was a guy two seats over who was loudly reciting the locations of the ESPN restaurants and super stores in North America. It was the most boring bit of trivia I’ve ever heard and he just kept going on and on. I wondered if someone was helping keep track of him – seemed that he wasn’t quite able to function on his own. I busied myself with some paper folding and tried to tune him out. I may be a more than a little obsessive about origami, but at least I’m quiet about it.
When it was finally my turn, I sat with the staff person and she did all the usual checks. I told her that I had lived with someone in the past 12 months that had hepatitis, but that I had been tested and was clear. She thought that would be okay, but had me go through the health questions on the computer. When that one threw a flag she had a couple other people over to discuss and they ended up deferring me for a year.
Which sucks. I thought I was doing the right thing with all of this – getting tested, disclosing, etc. But, the rules are the inflexible rules. If I had been thinking ahead I would have brought the test results with me – though I doubt it would have done any good. I’m sure there are people with far riskier health issues and less honesty that are donating today – but this O- was not one of them.
Not the end of the world, but disappointing. I guess I’ll start up again in December.