A One Gallon Milestone

Today I earned my one gallon pin from the American Red Cross. I started donating blood a couple of years ago when I worked at the corporate offices of a supermarket chain. At first, I started donating because it got me away from my desk for about an hour. Once I left the company, and the Red Cross followed up with me I started donating again because after working in the health care field I realized the importance of what I was able to do. Luckily my blood type is a good one and my blood has the opportunity to help a variety of people.
I remember the first time I donated blood, what a disaster! The lady who took my blood looked like a haggard vampire, so not like the vampires described by Stephanie Meyers in her twilight series. I have pretty good veins and this lady managed to nick the side of my vein and the next time I looked down at my arm it looked like there was a half of a baseball under my skin, except it was a purple/red/blue color. I had a GIANT hematoma and for about a week I really could lift much and it hurt my arm to do just about anything. Even better I looked like some sort of weird addict because as the blood dissipated my entire arm turned into a big bruise. One of my favorite memories of donating was when The Red Cross was having a "Pint for Pint" drive. If you donated a pint of blood you received a pint of Ben & Jerry's Ice cream. Come on, is there anything better?
I didn't get scared away by that experience and have been donating when I can. It's a bit of a bummer being tired for a day and having my workouts suffer, but knowing I am doing something good gives me that "warm fuzzy" we all need every once in a while.
Today I scored a 1 gallon pin which I placed on my work ID lanyard, and a cool mug that says, "One Gallon of Life".
If you aren't scared to death of needles I recommend you call up your local Red Cross and donate. If nothing else you will get some free juice and cookies.