Conversation With A Nephew

Actually, he called to talk to his uncle, who was currently sleeping after his 2nd eye surgery for cataracts this morning. So far he's doing well, but the bandages don't come off till tomorrow morning. So the nephew got to talk to me.

Lucky Guy! Or rather, I'm the lucky one who got to talk to him, eh? It's rare.

This nephew is young by our standards, but a man by society standards. He's employed by the FBI, checking out potential girl friends, living at home with his family because housing is impossible for a single young person starting out. He's unfailingly polite, always sincere, seeks out Steve's counsel on a regular basis. It's great to have a non-parent adult who cares about you to bounce stuff off of. Steve's surgery was a surprise to him so I filled him in on the details. Steve does a whole lot more listening than talking on those conversations.

But now the nephew got stuck with me. The topic of covid vaccinations came up. As a government employee, he's facing a deadline, vaccinate or bye-bye. He's still on the fence about that, hasn't gotten his first shot. All the rest of his family has, so it's not that kind of reason. But he's "waiting for more information." So we talked about that. Or rather, I, having been following this almost religiously for a year and a half, filled him in on the possible consequences of not vaxxing along with the fact that hundreds of millions of people around the globe have had their vaccines, the largest "test group" in history. The results are unambiguous. Vaccine works. 

We discussed "long covid", which he'd not heard of. (How on earth not? Really?) So I reminded him of what covid does in sprinkling the body with micro clots and the damage incurred from that. Or as I put it to him, those clots block blood, therefore O2, from reaching cells, so they die and rot in your body. Even if you don't die, you may never actually get well, or not for years. We still don't know that timeline.  It's too soon, even though this pandemic has been lasting forever. Almost.

We discussed being able to not have a clue you have covid and still be able to spread it to others. He threw in the fact that he could give his life or take a life in the line of duty if necessary. I get that (though I think he's naive about how he's going to feel afterwards). But what if he unknowingly spread covid to the sweet girl he's seeing right now and she got very sick or worse: could he forgive himself? 

We discussed side effects of the vaccine, how easy it is to walk into, say, any Walmart pharmacy, fill out a form, and get your shot. No reservations, just a short wait in line. Maybe feel tired or have a sore arm for a day.

By the time we got that far, he had to go. He was walking into a theater to see a movie with friends. Masked of course, he assured me. I wished him fun. I'll be sitting here hoping he's safe, and that he  decides his job is more important than his "lack of facts." 

I'm totally sure he would much rather have been talking with his uncle.