Giving Blood: TABD

I gave blood!! This is not NBD people. This is a TABD. Totally A Big Deal!! So be impressed.
Nobody is quite sure when it begins. One minute everything in your life is beautiful and peaceful. The next minute your world has changed. Your father has come home, announcing he's got something for you. You're so excited! He always brings you delicious treats! And then you see it.

You've never been afraid of a needle before but suddenly you're so terrified of the tiny instrument you are too frozen to move. Your dad takes a step towards and the spell is broken. You run for your life. Anywhere from the needle! You must get away! But your dad knows all your hiding spots. He finds you, talking calmly and assuring you of no danger. It's a little needle, it can't hurt you. You're breathing rapidly but you offer up your arm. He lightly taps your arm telling you to relax but you can't seem to manage it. Tears have started pooling but you're strong enough to keep them in at least. He starts a count. 1... You say to yourself "It's ok. When he reaches three I can relax my arm for at least a second. I can do this. 2-

BAM! He stabs you right in the arm when you are clearly not expecting it. It's completely understandable that you would jerk your arm because only some kind of crazy person would start a count off and then jab before they reach the end! He looks cross and tells you that you weren't supposed to move. You reply that you were not aware that was how it was working trying to be sarcastic but a few tears have fallen and you look too pitiful to gain the full effect of back talk. This time he stabs you without the count down and you have managed to relax your arm because you want so badly for it to end already. That's when you're informed that the needle has actually broken and he has to go get another. You sit through another cruel stabbing assuring your father that next time you'd rather die from the disease than get the shot. He laughs and moves on to his next victim.

So anyway... I'm afraid of needles. However, in recent years I've realized it is a silly fear. This is what lead me to sign up for the blood drive in the first place. They made me read this packet about all the reasons I might not able to donate. I studied that thing harder than I studied anything in my life and still couldn't find any reason to get out of it. Then I go into the little cube and the lady asks me for an ID. All I brought was my school ID which wasn't going to work. I was saved!! But no. She lucky found another way to make it work... Yay. Then to make matters worse she's pulling out a needle and stabs me before I'm even sure whats going to happen. I didn't appreciate that one bit!
The next nurse comes in. He seems nice enough but knowing he's going to stab me in the arm makes me associate him with every childhood nightmare I've ever had.  I'm lying a chair before I even know what's happening. As soon as he tells me I'm not allowed to move my arm anymore, my face is turned away. There's not a chance I'm going to see that needle break through my fragile flesh! He informs me that he's only rubbing something medical on my arm and I could turn my head. I inform him I want to know nothing about what is going on no matter what. It's taking all my concentration to not punch him in the face and run while I still can. Finally he informs me I'm going to feel just a slight sting when the needle goes in. I nod and suddenly its in. I'm sure I jerked a bit but not enough to move my arm which in and of itself is an achievement.

I sit there for a moment. And another. Suddenly it occurs to me that I'm totally fine. Nothing is hurting me. I slowly turn my head and look at my arm. There's a tube leading out of it and realizing that it was my blood doesn't even bother me. It was a miracle! I was totally fine! I just sat there bleeding out like a pro! I did gasp when he began filling up the vials with my blood... But other than that I did remarkably well keeping my cool! The nurse actually asked for my number afterwards so I must have done an even better job at acting cool than I realized. Or he just wanted to see how many stupid things I actually say. I tend to talk a lot when I'm nervous no matter what I'm saying...
Anyway, the moral of the story is conquer your fears and you might just get a date. Or at the very least a small bag of cookies which is definitely worth it!