Another Blood Donating Experience

I'm a hero. I gave blood today. And no less than ten Red Cross employees and volunteers thanked me for taking time out of my busy schedule to donate. This is the first time since I wrote about my last harrowing experience.

My story for this donation isn't nearly as entertaining as my last one. But there was one point that just totally stopped me in my tracks.

You know they ask you all those questions? Okay, for those of you that don't donate blood, know that there is a time at the beginning of the process where they ask you several questions. SSN, address, date of birth. Pretty general and relatively easy to answer for the average bear.

And then there are all kinds of questions about what countries you've been to and whether or not you ever slept with anyone who may have slept with anyone that has AIDS, has been to Africa, or ever traded drugs or money for sex.

But today, there was one question that totally shocked me. Are you ready for this? Are you sitting down? Don't take a drink of that beverage right now. Trust me. The question was this...

What was your gender at birth?

Seriously?!

It made me wonder if she thought I looked like I was a man in drag or someone who has gone through "gender reassignment surgery".

But after catching my breath, I gave a polite, "female", and let it go.

But I have to tell you, my friends, it's really been bothering me ever since. I'm now a little self-conscious about my appearance. Maybe I should wear more pink or put a bow in my hair. Maybe I need to concentrate on speaking in a higher voice or talking about girl things like shopping and painting my nails.

At any rate, after that, the blood donation was uneventful...just the way I like it.