Two of my medications, that are both brand name, and I have been taking safely for years, come from a manufacturer that operates in India.

I have always liked animals better than people, and get tremendously attached in fairly short order to an animal. For me, I think part of it is because I have determined that I will never have children, but a pet still gives me a little soul to love, a little life that depends on me to give my own life some structure and responsibility. A little creature who will love me with the unconditional love of a child, but for their whole lives. They listen when I talk to them, don’t talk back or yell, have ulterior motives or hidden agendas, they don’t lie to me or take advantage of me. I don’t have to worry about them judging me, so I am free to be my authentic self.

And it’s nice to have a little fluffy animal to cuddle when I’m sad.

For me, it was about learning to focus on all the happy memories I had with my cat, and not the stress and the fear and despair I felt at the end of his life. I choose to remember how he would wait at the door for me when I got home, or slept with me every night with his little paw in my hand (if I rolled over, he would climb over my head to the side I was facing so he could put his paw in my hand). Even how well he did taking his inhaler and how much life it gave him that he started playing again at 16. My funny pictures of him in a little sweater, or a bow tie. How he fussed until we gave him a chair of his own in the computer room so he could sit next to me, or lay on my desk as I was on the computer. How he seemed to know when I was sad and came to cuddle with me. How he was obsessed with boxes, so we had several around the house for him to sit in. Or even how he hid the remote for our sound bar and we didn’t find it until after he passed away, he never chewed on the buttons or anything, just put it in one of his boxes.

I choose to remember those good and happy times, and that I gave him the best care I could for the time I had him.

Because worse awaits them if the roles are reversed and the cartels get the jump.

In high end kitchens, they say “yes chef”, and I feel like “yes -rank-“ should be fine if they desperately want a gender neutral option.

What’s super interesting is that all my shots have been Moderna and they’ve been increasingly more and more gentle for every subsequent shot. The first one I felt kinda crappy for about a week, had some significant soreness in that arm and swollen lymph nodes. Each one after that had fewer side effects from the shot before. I haven’t had a Pfizer one so I can’t say if it’s brand specific or not, but my mom got Pfizer and was fine.

It’s so weird how differently people can react to the same meds.