Funny story...

(I'm not sure how relevant to anything this is, but oh well--let's call it off-beat Friday, okay? :) )

Yesterday, I learned that in times of crisis, having faith is so much better than not believing in anything. After a very reluctant chat with my mother in the morning, I trudged over to get my H1N1 vaccine at a student clinic on campus. My doctor said his grandkids had gotten it, and as a medical professional who has seen me for 18 years, he recommended I get vaccinated, too.

Ironically, I had just left my Online Journalism class, and said to my professor on the way out that I'd see him Tuesday, assuming I didn't have a reaction, oink oink.

Next time, I won't jinx myself. They asked me to wait around for ten minutes following my vaccination, just to be sure that I would be okay. Well, about five minutes into the observation period I felt like someone had shoved cotton in my ears. Weird. A minute later, I was lightheaded. Weirder yet. I went over to the nurse who had vaccinated me and told her that I wasn't feeling well. The next thing I knew, I was on the floor of the health center surrounded by a half dozen nurses.

Oops.

I'm fine now, but the recovery process was certainly scary--I had never blacked out before in my life, and I was shaking when I regained consciousness. (This is likely because of a muscular condition I've had since I was born--it acts up when I'm super stressed or weak.) As soon as I realized what was going on, I turned to prayer. I got a text message right after that from one of the girls at CCM: "Are you okay? I'm right here."

Talk about guardian angels! Lisa had coincidentally been vaccinated just as I lost consciousness at the other side of the room. She stayed with me after I was stabilized and brought into a back room to wait for my parents.

Thanks be to God, I'm doing just fine today; they think it was a combination of nerves and not having enough to eat that day. But as someone who doesn't do well at all under emergency situations, I learned two important lessons from the experience:

1) Faith in God's presence in our lives can be an incredible comfort when we are alone, afraid, and have no one to turn to. I probably would have had a complete meltdown without prayer to keep me alert and focused.

2) The Christian community is more than just a group of people that share religious beliefs--we are family because we share the same Father. Family is called to look out for and support one another, even when it's scary or inconvenient.

I'm just glad to be doing okay. My dad joked last night that it would be hilarious to find out next week that The Whit had covered the clinic--I work as a features reporter and copy editor for them. Of course, there would be a photo of the nurses vaccinating students, with yours truly blacked out in the background. I've got to admit, he cracked me up. :)