This Morning in a Doctor's Office Far, Far Away

I had to go to the doctor this morning to get the second portion of the chicken pox vaccine. I know it seems improbable that I, being the ripe age of 27, have never had the chicken pox, but I haven't! And when a co-worker came down with the pox (at 33!) and had been interacting with me quite a bit, I was sent into a panic imagining myself having shingles for the rest of my life. I don't think I was even fully aware there was a chicken pox vaccine available. From what I understand, it became prevalent in the US in the mid nineties and I was too busy checking my pager to care.

Needless to say, I trudged to the doctor after my mild panic attack and got my first dose of the varicella. It did not hurt, but it was curious that the injection site became extremely HOT for days afterward and started to itch. It was like I had one giant pock. (pock? )

So anyway, that was then. I am not sure if I'll have another pock. But more interesting things happened while I was waiting for the doctor. There are many physicians at this office, and there is a large pediatric component. So there are always a lot of kids around. Today, as I settled in to await my single pock injection, I could hear the soothing sounds of a mother reading a story to her very attentive children. I heard "The intergalactic enterprise thwarted..." WHAT!?!? This woman, in her dulcet tones, went on to talk of the Battle of Endor and their trip to Tatooine. She also explained how Han Solo had lost the Millennium Falcon in a high stakes game of cards.

Okay, so this lady was reading some sort of kids' picture book version of the "Star Wars" saga. But the way in which she was reading it and the way her kids were reacting was unreal! And these were young kids, maybe 3 and 5! She talked about C3P0's copper sheen and gave them anecdotes clearly not from the book about Luke and Leia's relationship. She had things to stay about "Star Wars" and damn it, her kids were going to listen! It was hilarious. And she was such a dorky mom, too. Living in New York and being from upper middle class suburban SoCal (that sounds horrible), all I ever see is too-cute moms trying to be 26. This lady was nothing of the sort. She looked like a cross between Anthony Michael Hall in "Sixteen Candles" and Charlize Theron in "Monster." The highlight came when she started explaining that "the Storm Troopers' blasters have the capability to," she dramatically turns to her daughter "stun. But they also have the capability" she turns her head to the other side, into the wide eyes of her son, "to kill." Oh, the joys of geeky motherhood! We can't all be young, cute moms with blonde pixie cuts and purple sweatshirts!

TGIF people,
Bridge

PS: I would like to apologize to all of the Star Wars freaks if I botched some of that information. I mean, how can I be sure if it was the Empire or the Rebellion who used blasters? Right?