Vaccine 2nd Shot

Are you fully vaccinated? 

In the fourth week of March, my husband and son were fully vaccinated, but I was not lucky enough to get picked by the algorithm or logic defined by our state. So my loving husband - very concerned, spoke to some of his friends and found a vaccination center, where we need to drive for 50 miles (one way). As all of you know the first shot was a breeze and there was no / very less impact.

But as I heard stories of the second shot I wanted to be more prepared. Planning for the second shot started, as we were driving for my first shot on Sunday 3/28. Knowing the impact I decided to get the second shot on a Friday – April 23rd, so I could recover over the weekend, with less impairment to my family and to the new project (office work) which I decided to start on Apr 5^th.

But God had a different rather better plan for me. Soon after the first shot in the observation area, there was a big electronic board flashing 2nd appointment from April 18th to April 22. My plan was for April 23rd Friday…. I did not want to interrupt my husband’s work on a weekday and decided to take the shot on Sunday, April 18th… prepared to face the consequences, with little planning ahead. 

What are the things you would plan for, to have fewer unexpected things to happen?

1.    Smooth running of home/family activities - Being a mom and the only cook in the family needs to be prepared with food for at least 3 days.

2.    To complete the official work which is due….

Food: This is very important for all of us…. Especially with remote working and virtual schooling, I believe we end up eating more junk food, in case we did not plan.  Luckily changed our routine a little in this pandemic situation we are in, yes healthy, but at the same time little less time in the kitchen. Instead of 3 complete meals in the day, made the lunch a little lighter version with more Salad / Fruit medley with yogurt or some hearty soup. Normally I try to plan and do the prep work, one of the weekends - so do not waste my time planning/thinking during the weekdays. The plan is only a skeleton of course with a lot of flexibility inbuilt. For me being a pure Vegetarian (do not eat eggs too), my husband being a selective non-vegetarian, avoids meat and eggs on Tuesdays/ Thursday/ Saturday. Now started a new pattern based on the phases of the moon…. Yes as he grows ---, getting more complex and complicates us too. But both our kids enjoy meat all the days.

With all these permutation and combination, it was not hard on the planning, as I am used to it.  Also implementing I was there 100% around to juggle food from the fridge and stovetop/microwave and finally to the dining table. Now the twist is all these things should happen in my absence, just in case. Yes, prepared food for 3 days, which needs less involvement from us, and kept them ready in the fridge. 

Some of you might think, why not I take out the food instead of doing all this. In our family made it a practice to enjoy outside food on Friday or weekends…. On weekdays we are almost in rush to complete so many things at work/school, the food on these days is just a ritual. Hope you can understand and agree with this.

Work: Officially I had a deliverable for the weekend of April 18th, but managed to complete all the analysis the weekend before Apr 11th- remember I joined this project Apr 5th, stretched that weekend. This helped me to some extent.

Luckily with all these preparations, I was ok with a little body pain but on a long sleeping spell. I normally sleep for 6 to 7 hours a day…. But this 2nd shot made me sleep for 15 /16 hours continuously for 2 days. Only pressure of my work – new project kissed me, to remove the spell and not the prince charming from sleeping beauty.

How can there be a project or a plot without a climax? Yes, my inimitable husband brought in the climax. He was debating on switching jobs and he pulled the trigger during this time. Already I started my new project on April 5th. He switches the company. On the second day of my shot, it was his joining day. He was under severe pressure - working on setting up his new laptop/orientation call/demo on all the applications, while I was happily dreaming in my sleep.

In this tough situation, my 13-year-old daughter learned to make a perfect Indian pancake - dosa.  She was excited and happy to be of great help to the family when it was most needed. Also, it was a test for my Fitbit to record 16 hours of my sleeping.

In any project planning, risks are inevitable, hence have the mitigation strategies or Plan B, handy to complete the project execution. Also document the learnings for future reference.

I take this opportunity to request you all above the age of 16 to get vaccinated soon and stay safe.