Closer To India

Yesterday I waited at the Hoosick Valley Family Health Center for two hours to get some of the vaccinations I need to go to India.

There are no magazines at the Health Center.   I usually look forward to leafing through an National Geographic but the waiting room only has a TV that tells all us  sitting there about the symptoms of many different diseases.

But of course, most people, including me, have a cell phone for more kinds of entertainment than any print magazine can offer.

I started taking pictures of the bleak room I sat in while I listened to the commotion of an emergency that was the reason I was kept waiting. It made me feel grateful not to be the person on the way to the hospital.  And when I thought about it later, I realized I had two hours of relaxing (although it only became relaxing after the first hour when I gave up being nervous)  which wouldn’t have happened if I was at home because I would have been working.

When the nurse finally came into the room she had four vaccinations with her.  Hepatitis A and B, a flu shot and a booster with tetanus, diphtheria and Pertussis (never heard of that one) all in one.  Two shots in each arm, which  took only minutes and I was on my way home.

One more step closer to India.