Porter W. Palmer

I have the most unusual encounters having blood drawn. I have tiny veins that are deep and hard to stick. It took 4 tries to get an IV in me once, and I have had folks call for the doctor after their attempts to hit a vein to draw blood have failed. That doctor got it, from my wrist and then almost killed me when the needle slipped. You’d think this whole thing would traumatize me, but tbh, it’s all good.

This morning I went in for just routine lab work. Was at the office at 7:35, when the Phlebotomist was just getting ready for her day. She looked at my arms. We chatted about how impossible I am to stick, but that it’s ok because I don’t cry and it doesn’t really hurt. She had not had a good day the day before and wasn’t ready emotionally for my deep little blood carrying tubes. I know this because she told me. I reassured her, and offered a hug. She said sweetly, “Let me draw the blood first.” She got it on the first try in the bend of my arm. I am not joking when I say that as she was filling the vials, she was crying. She was so happy. She needed a small blessing and I got to be her early morning angel.

She hugged me and told me she loved me before I left. My day was blessed because of her too.

I was born a strawberry blonde. Most of my life, I’ve tried to stay one. Well, that was so until the past five or six years when I finally began to embrace my brunette roots. Today, I got a hold of some bottle blonde. This is the result.

Hello from the 7th Circuit Court here in Flint, MI. I was summoned to appear yesterday and today, but my panel was not called yesterday. I have been called to serve jury duty twice before. In Newberry, SC I was called for Municipal Court. I was seated, and then excused because I had immediate family in law enforcement. When I lived in San Antonio, TX I spent a day sitting in the jury room, but was never called. I have always been disappointed that I haven’t been able to serve.

Today was different. They brought all of us who were in the 8am call to the courtroom. I cannot begin to express properly the shock I experienced when the charges were read. “Murder.” My smile melted away. I started to panic. “Is MI a death penalty state?” I wondered. I sucked back tears.

Then, right away, I was called as a potential juror. That’s when they started talking about how long this trial might take. “Through May 10,” said the judge.

“What?!” I thought. I can’t be out of work through May 10. I swear, I had no idea from the summons that this was more than a 2-day ordeal. I have held yesterday and today for weeks in preparation for doing my civic duty.

When the judge asked about scheduling hardships, I raised my hand. She didn’t care that I have work-related travel planned and obligations. She acted as if I should have known this could take weeks, even though she’d already asked all of us if we have served on a jury before and we all had said no. I seriously had no idea I was committing to more than two days.

At this point, I began to freak out about how I was going to get all of my work done. I don’t have the kind of job that the work goes away when I am absent. It just builds up. 

I was also still reeling from the thought that I might be exposed to all the bad stuff I work so hard to avoid. I gave up news years ago. Details of a carjacking/murder are extremely high on the list of things I don’t want to think about.

The judge released a couple of jurors. One guy was dismissed after saying “I don’t like the law.” A woman who worked at a bank and had been robbed twice was dismissed. 

The lawyers began their questions for the jury (voir dire). They asked a few questions and I was really starting to worry that I was going to be sitting on a jury in a murder trial. Then they started asking more sensitive questions. I was released the first time the prosecution got the chance to scratch somebody.

I left and did some Googling. I am certain that I should not have been on that jury.

Took the day off to do a little rambling around. First, we headed to Grits and Groceries for lunch. This place is in nowhere, SC. The food is out of this world. There was quite a crowd too, proving that people will support businesses that are out of the way if they are exceptional.

After lunch, we headed to a pond for some fishin’. On my first cast, using a blue crappy jig, I caught Phread the catfish. Did you know they grunt? He was shy on video, so here’s a picture. Just to be clear, I do take fish off hooks myself if I am sure that I am not hurting them. In this case, Bill did it for me. I’ve not handled catfish before.