The COVID Vaccine, My Side Effects

I caught COVID last November, had a few tough days, but came out of it just fine (except when you see a typo in the newspaper, then feel free to blame it on some lingering side effect of COVID; my brain must still be suffering from rather than the more plausible reason of my general incompetence that predated COVID).

This March, after there seemed to be a surplus of vaccines in Fayette County, I went and got vaccinated.

I can’t say I did so happily, but I understood the importance.

I felt bad the day after the shot, but that was just the start of the side effects – to this day I have the side effects of feeling like I had made a responsible choice for myself and those around me.

Not once have I regretted the decision.

I would encourage anyone to get the vaccine if their doctor clears them for it – our own daughter got the vaccine this summer and our son who just turned 12 is getting his next week.

If you decide getting the vaccine is not the right decision for you I’m not going to make you feel bad about it. We all have choices to make.

But I don’t understand people trying to convince others not to get vaccinated, claiming some sort of special insight.

We open our letters to the editor page to all opinions of all sorts, but they are just that – opinions.

Here’s a context free portion of a letter we won’t be running this week: “the vaccine has been declared by the manufacturers to be harmful and/or ineffective.”

That’s simply not true, and the writer of that same letter quotes a “doctor” to back up that claim. No where in the letter does the writer say that the person is not a medical doctor, but rather a doctor of economics.

There’s a big word at the top of this page. It’s called “Opinion” and please remember that the things on this page, and for sure, the page that follows are just opinions.

Please don’t base your vote, your beliefs or your medical choices on anything you read on pages D1 or D2 of our newspaper every Friday – and that includes the stuff I write.

Arnold Romberg has an interesting letter on the next page with some advice for letter writers. I have a lot of respect for the way Arnold looks at things with an open mind and he always has been that way as long as I’ve known him.

I think he makes some great points.

On to some less serious stuff, shall we ...

I really enjoyed reading Elaine Thomas’s feature about my dad and his role with the fair in this issue. I even learned some things I didn’t know.

Even as a young kid I knew he was a pretty important guy with the fair – though the fair for him was just several days of extra work, while for me it was a wonderland.

School didn’t start until after Labor Day when I was in elementary so I remember a few years when I’d go up to the fair with my dad Thursday and Friday morning and stay there all day. I would just walk around and around the livestock area, the commercial exhibits and the carnival and never get bored.

I remember one year there was an artist who used a chain saw to cut stumps of wood into amazing sculptures and I watched that guy for hours. Another year there was a gigantic enclosure of rattlesnakes and a guy would go in there and do a show and he’d get the snakes to strike at a balloon he had tied to his boot and burst it – among other tricks.

I think I watched every show that guy performed the entire four-day run of the fair.

The fair was always the last hurrah before the start of school for us as kids.

Now another summer’s coming to an end.

The clock is ticking. I can hear that clock every time I look at my kids’ faces.

School starts next week.

They say adults don’t get summer vacation, but I don’t think that’s true. The freedom my kids feel during those carefree days of their summer rubs off a bit.

The summer hasn’t been completely care-free for the Wick kids, however. Our three boys are all in “The Jungle Book” play being performed at the Casino Hall this weekend, and I am truly in awe of them, and all the kids in the production. They have all memorized so many lines, rehearsed actions and put together an amazing show, and they’ve been working on it several afternoons a week for the last six weeks! I was in exactly one play in high school – had just a couple of lines and it still scared the heck out of me.

The 50 or so kids and the adult volunteers facilitating this show are due so much respect.