Flu Shots

I got my seasonal flu shot after school yesterday as has been my routine for the last twenty years or so. I can't even remember when they first started giving them out to teachers, staff, and retirees for free, but that's when I started doing it. This year it was crazy! A teacher in my building had gone to a different site for the shot a few days before and got there about half way through the two hour time block only to find that they had run out of vaccine. She planned to go again yesterday afternoon. It's a good thing she got there early. There were only 240 doses, according to the rumor running up and down the huge line. For the first time ever, one of the staff put numbers on our papers. She said if you got a number, you would get a shot. I had arrived about 20 minutes before the clinic opened and got number 65. Many other teachers from my building showed up later than I did and got numbers as well. I left when I got my shot, so I don't know if they really ran out or not. I do know that I have never seen that many people lined up before.
On the PLUS side, for the last many years I used to dread standing up to wait for this shot. It would usually run from 20 to 30 minutes, and that was way beyond my ability to stand. A few of the years, I found a stray chair and dragged it over to sit down while I waited. This year, I wasn't worried at all! I ended up standing up for 40 minutes waiting, then I drove to the mall and walked two times around the oval track of stores inside plus some general walking around to and from the car and to get my Starbucks (black, brewed coffee only) for a total of another 55 minutes on my feet. Not too shabby!