I'm a Weenie

Jerry and I were both born and raised and lived the first 20 years of our married lives in north central Illinois. We tuned in to the Chicago radio and TV stations to get our news, weather and sports. One of the most popular sports casters in those years was a young man by the name of Tim Wiegel. He was a good writer and announcer and very entertaining. Two of the things he's remembered for are his loud jackets and his "Wiegel Weiner" awards. These awards would be given to athletes that gave a somewhat less than stellar performance.

Well, if little Timmy had been at our church yesterday morning, I'd probably have gotten one of his "Wiegle Weiner" awards. You see, they were having a blood drive in the parish hall. So after the service, I suggested to Jerry that we really should go over there and give blood. He seemed surprised that I was going to do this. He gave blood all the time when he worked for AT&T...but this would be a first for me. My attitude was, "Sure! Why not?" I walked bravely to the table when the girl said, "Next" and gave my name, address, social security number, etc. See???...piece of cake. I hid my trembling pretty well when I was called to the next station to get my finger pricked (I just kept telling myself..."you do this all the time. It's just like quilting.") and answered questions of a very personal nature. (No, I have not had sex with a prostitute in the last 30 days!) I was even a trooper as "Vampira" punctured my arm and started letting all my blood out into a huge bag. I did pretty well...sitting there squeezing my little blue "pill" as directed. Everything was going fine --- until just about the end. I think they took about two drops too many. Just as my bag was almost full, I told the nurse, "My stomach feels queasy." She sprang into action and with the help of one of the other nurses they tipped my chair back and started giving me instructions: "Cough -- hard!", "Move your legs back and forth!", "Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth!" (That one was a trick because when I breathed in she was waving smelling salts under my nose. Nasty stuff!!) "Keep your eyes open...we need to know that you're still with us!" Then they put an ice pack under the back of my neck...and one on the front of my neck, too. They managed to fill my bag and I managed to come around. I got a tee shirt that says, "One donation of blood saves 3 lives" and I got to eat cookies and drink juice boxes. All that's well and good...but I want my Wiegel Weiner award, too!