“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” ~ Benjamin Franklin

For years I circulated an e-mail entitled “Thought for Today” to friends and co-workers … it always include a quote and some clip art, sometimes a link to a video and usually was tailored to a holiday or event. My go-to guy for great quotes was often Ben Franklin. I like his style. I chose this quote today because I took his wisdom to heart and went and got my annual flu shot to be proactive against that nasty flu bug.

As a child, I used to despise getting vaccinations of any kind and wished all my preventive childhood shots could be taken via a sugar cube. This is because, when I was a youngster, my pediatrician was not kid-friendly. Dr. Hamlin was recommended to my parents and he was a Englishman with a stiff upper lip, devoid of personality and when he spoke, his strong British accent made him very difficult to understand. I was intimidated by Dr. Hamlin. He’d jam that *&%# tongue depressor down my throat so far I’d gag and pull away, and he’d put his big hands on my shoulders to push me back down onto the examination table while giving me a disapproving look and harsh words. It was not like my feet reached the floor and I was going to peel out of there anytime soon, especially with my parents looking on. There were no lollipops in a jar for his young patients and no kind words to sooth my frayed nerves in anticipation of any of those seemingly endless childhood inoculations. No, not Dr. Hamlin – he’d grab my arm, swab some alcohol and “stick me”. I would start whining before he filled the needle and my parents, who remained in the room of course, would never have tolerated a tantrum, so I really knew better but … oh, I hated that man so much.

Fast forward to the mid-70s when I started on an allergy shot regimen for hay fever, dust and mold, that has continued for nearly forty years. These days I am fairly blasé about getting shots. I get two shots every four weeks plus I give blood regularly so I now remain undaunted when they drive that big needle into my vein to draw precious blood. I have small veins and it sometimes requires two or three tries to get the blood draw going. I usually come home black-and-blue but I contributed a pint for the cause.

However, the pharmacist jabbed me hard this morning. We were discussing the crazy weather and POW! … in went the flu shot needle. I winced and started to pull away, reminiscent of my trepidation from my toddler days. He said it hurt because it went into the muscle. I am more inclined to believe the jab was the aftermath of our conversation prior to him giving me the shot. I announced I was there for a flu shot and he asked me if I was using my Medicare card today. I very snarkily informed him I was not eligible for a Medicare card for several years and perhaps the better question would be to ask what health insurance card I would be proffering today. Do you think there is a correlation between our conversation and the jab? Well, I lived to tell about it and have typed ‘til my fingers were near-bloody stumps today so no harm done I suppose and in two more weeks I shall be armed (pun intended) for flu season.

I also made a pit stop at Meijer to the produce section where I loaded a bag with their featured apple-of-the-week: SweeTango. Who names these apples I wonder? What a fun name for this hybrid of Honeycrisp and Zestar! apples … they should be awesome. I am going to sign off here and crunch into the one that is chilling in the fridge alongside a generous chunk of cheddar cheese.

And if you’re wondering who said “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”, well – that would be another aphorism of Ol’ Ben as well.