This came in the mail today. Apparently I have given blood at Red Cross 32 times. That doesn’t count the time I donated at work, on an empty stomach, then fainted and got a concussion. Oops. Now I need a 4 gallon hat on which to pin my 4 gallon pin.

I give because my father did, and because he had a few blood-related exclamations he was known to utter. When he was angry he would sometimes yell “Hell’s bells and buckets of blood!” I knew to make myself scarce when I heard that one. The other was “Yer blood’s worth bottlin’!”, an expression of admiration or gratitude.

I miss my Dad; I think of him every time I go to get my blood bottled.