An Evolving Life. A Toothless Thanks.
A Toothless Thanks
On this weekend of thanks. I intend to make a gratitude list. It’s such a long list this year that it’s hard to know where to begin. Although that hasn’t always been the case.
For years, I was a half-empty kind of girl. I would focus on what needs to be bettered rather than what was already good enough. Perfectionism is a disease that plagues me, and that I continue to recover from day by day.
Two weeks ago after three days of appointments with my dentist and a root canal specialist, I found out that I need an implant for my front tooth. And on this coming Thursday, what remains above the gum needs to be pulled.
While the physical discomfort and expense is frightening, one of the biggest challenges is that I was toothless, up front, for a full week before a temporary could be made.
At first, I thought I would have to cancel everything, stay home and basically hide. My smile is my best feature; how could I leave home without it?!
The first day I was so depressed I couldn’t get out of bed. Fortunately I work at home so I knew that I would get back to it eventually. But the life of an artist/writer is solitary. A week with no daily human contact appeared bleak as the tundra.
That day I had been invited to a birthday lunch with some girlfriends at a lovely waterside venue. Reluctantly, I cancelled.
All morning, however, I received text messages from my friends encouraging me to come out anyway. The birthday girl even said she would protect me from onlookers.
As I was still deciding whether or not to go, I found myself getting dressed, blow drying my hair, applying make-up. When I arrived, they were so happy to see me that I smiled wide trying to cover my mouth. Suddenly, I didn’t seem to care (as much).
And later that evening when I found the courage to attend a very crowded event at the Parrish Art Museum with one of those friends, she said you know, you look cute that way like when we were six and just starting to lose our teeth.
So a day or two later, when I saw my eight-year old grandson whose front teeth have just grown in, I gave him a big grin. We both giggled. It wasn’t so bad after all.
Here’s a photo I took years ago of my daughters not long after we moved into the house where I still live. It’s my favorite of them together. I call it Toothless.
Please click on the image to enlarge.
Toothless
An Evolving Life Series
2019 Posts
A Toothless Smile (This one)
2018 Posts
Learn more about how it all began! Click here to read An Evolving Life posts from 2018.
