Boosted Thanksgiving

Karolina Grabowska for Pexels

We just celebrated our second Thanksgiving during a global pandemic. Unlike last year, this year many families were planning to get back together now that everyone has been vaccinated, some testing before meeting, etc. My in-laws were together (although they were last year, too), and half my family had a meal together, but the rest of us weren't comfortable with that, so did our own separate things at home again.

Like last year, I decided that if I wasn't hosting people, I wasn't cooking anything, so we ordered our dinner again, this time from a local restaurant. It was very good, but it was supposed to be a [generous] meal for four, and we'll be working on eating these leftovers for at least a week!

One nice change is that many stores announced they would be closed on Thanksgiving, after years of Black Friday creeping earlier and earlier into the day before. They say they're doing it for the benefit of their employees, but I'm sure the labor shortage (and maybe even supply chain issues) have something to do with it - both in trying to retain the employees they do have with more holidays off, and due to staffing issues if they had tried to open. I've seen nothing but a positive response to these announcements though.

Also, my husband and I received our vaccine booster shots the day before Thanksgiving! Our first doses were provided by my employer in the spring, but now that they are more readily available, we went to a local site run by our county. We actually decided to mix & match and get the other brand of mRNA vaccine this time, as I've heard it elicits a stronger immune response by teaching your body different things - though most people still seem to be staying brand loyal.

Following the booster, we both tried to take it easy and stay hydrated. I started feeling achy and chills that evening about 9 hours later, and had a minor headache that lasted about a day and a half. My husband was fine through the next day, but the following evening got the same headache and chills, and probably had a fever overnight. He was fine by the next morning, and never had a headache or any other symptoms.