When I was young, I used to love to play those scratch-off lottery tickets. My heart rate would actually go up when I was scraping off those little silver spots of foil (?), just the anticipation of winning something was almost worth the $1.

[Now my heart rate goes up if I cross the room too fast, but at least I save the buck.]

I’m thinking about those lottery tickets because I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to get my vaccine against COVID-19. And the more I read about the prospects for getting the vaccine here, the more I realize that it won’t be available to me here at least until August/September.

That’s not based on any actual publication, but because of how I’ve been seeing it handled. It’s almost comical to see how badly the government has been “rolling out” the vaccine plan. It comes down to something like this:

“We’ll roll it out to healthcare people first. But after we vaccinate our family and ourselves”

“Then we will give it to all the old people. Or at least 57% of them.”

“Then everyone else who wants it.”

Really, that’s about as detailed as it is. Now, they have built a website to sign up for an appointment. But it’s not working right. So maybe you can get an appointment on it, I don’t know.

I do know that I can’t even trust ANY of that ridiculous plan, because the country simply isn’t getting the vaccines it SUPPOSEDLY purchased. Blame is being passed out for that, and most of those fingers are pointing to the US and the other large Western countries that are getting plenty of vaccines. I don’t doubt that this is true. I can’t, seeing how the world runs today.

Now what really makes me ashamed of myself is that I am seriously considering going back the US to get vaccinated. And that makes me one of “those people” taking from “these people.” All of which is true.

But I don’t feel like I have any choice. I have a heart condition. And I have another medical problem that I’ve never shared here, that puts me at an even greater risk if I were to catch the virus.

So, I’m probably going to do it. Sometime in April I’ll get on a plane and go back to get a shot, stay around for 3 weeks to get a second shot, and then come back here.

Fortunately, I have a lot of airline miles and I’ll be able to use them to fly in business class, which means I’ll be a LITTLE safer on the plane. But I’m really not crazy about having to do this.

One thing that this made me realize is that this is perhaps the first time that living here really wasn’t as good as living in the US. I mean sure, there are things I miss (like Dunkin Donuts) about the US, but overall, living here hasn’t been less healthy for me. Until this.

So, when I push aside all those other “needs” that friends sometimes bring back for me, there really isn’t anything here that I can’t live without (except of course that vaccine).

It’s taken 6 years for me to run into something that forces me to return to the US (expect for a death in the family). That’s not a bad run when you think about it.

No matter what I do, I’m lucky to have these options. The people here do not. And they are being sorely let down. Too bad it’s not soreness from a shot in the arm.

I’m just saying.