9 Ampoules
It took me an hour to figure out why a cabinet was labeled "butterflies".
I have a viceral, maybe primative dislike for giving up my blood, but I started my day at the hospital lab. I'm a weasel about fasting, so I'd been putting it off. (One of the tests was for cholesterol.) Again, Virginia Mason is a dandy place. The nurse was accurate with her needle, kind, and amused that I was quietly averting my eyes from the blood being taken from me. Instead, I was reading the labels on the cabinet doors in the hall. In my mind I had the incongruous image of Blue Morphos and Black Swallowtails preserved in cases, like one of the displays at Ancient Grounds.
This is only the second time I've ever had blood taken, and never so much. Ah, well. I think I'm a little closer to blood donation now. I don't even know my type, for certain.
In the plastic ampoules, it wasn't as pretty as I think of it. It's potent color, subdued and contained, lacked the violence of other times, small cuts or scratches that welled out bright, liquid jewels. Instead, it was ordinary. That's all right. In giving it up, I would rather have it stripped of poetry and symbolism.
I have a viceral, maybe primative dislike for giving up my blood, but I started my day at the hospital lab. I'm a weasel about fasting, so I'd been putting it off. (One of the tests was for cholesterol.) Again, Virginia Mason is a dandy place. The nurse was accurate with her needle, kind, and amused that I was quietly averting my eyes from the blood being taken from me. Instead, I was reading the labels on the cabinet doors in the hall. In my mind I had the incongruous image of Blue Morphos and Black Swallowtails preserved in cases, like one of the displays at Ancient Grounds.
This is only the second time I've ever had blood taken, and never so much. Ah, well. I think I'm a little closer to blood donation now. I don't even know my type, for certain.
In the plastic ampoules, it wasn't as pretty as I think of it. It's potent color, subdued and contained, lacked the violence of other times, small cuts or scratches that welled out bright, liquid jewels. Instead, it was ordinary. That's all right. In giving it up, I would rather have it stripped of poetry and symbolism.