This was bloody awesome!

When I was a kid, my mom gave blood at the Red Cross regularly, and I was always entranced that you get free cookies, as many as you want afterwards. That probably gave me a positive association with being a donor of body parts – my hair has never grown long enough for me to cut it for cancer patients, but I am on the bone marrow donor list. I wanted to donate a kidney or part of my liver about 10 years ago, but Ian begged me not to and Caroline reminded me she might need one of those organs from me one day, so now I am just giving my body to UCLA when I am dead, so doctors-to-be can learn on me instead of innocent animals.

Today I had an appointment to give blood, something that I do on a regular basis. I still rejoice over the mountains of cookie packets and mini-boxes of apple juice for all the blood donors, even though they no longer seduce me like when I was 8. I just like that they are there, a sweet thank you for our donated pint.

Alexandra donates blood March 23 2015

It was especially fun this time because my friend Viv walked in as I was lying on the table. She is an amazing vegan activist and just such a lovely person. About 10 minutes later the fit, zen Michael Stanwyck, cofounder of the Whole Life Challenge and a really nice man came in to donate too! It was a party, or as much of one you can have at noon on Monday at a Red Cross donation center. I love giving blood, but today was the best because I realized (again) how cool my friends are.

Alexandra, Michael Stanwyck Red Cross March 2015