PHASE 2 of my oral craziness is finally DONE! My smile may be damaged, sore, & a little empty in 3 areas, but notice that it is still there. I absolutley refuse to stop smiling.
December 19th was awful. I'm not going to lie or sugar coat it. We are all allowed to have "those days" every now & again. Life is still beautiful, & I am truly stronger today than I was yesterday. It's a new day & the sun is shining. Phase 2 of my oral "project" was the extraction of 3 adult teeth. Guys, I'm scared of the dentist to get my teeth cleaned. I even went 8 years without seeing a dentist when I graduated high school (FYI DON'T DO THAT) because I was scared of them. Now I go faithfully every 6 months trying to conqer that fear & to keep my mouth healthy & strong, but I still have anxiety about it. Fast forward to me sitting in a chair fully awake & aware while 2 people had me in a head lock, knees on my legs to use as leverage as they pulled & prodded these 3 healthy (not wanting to yield) teeth from my mouth. What should have taken 15 minutes took an hour & a half thanks to a VERY stubborn left tooth who refused to let go. Let's not forget that they had to try to re-numb me 3 times because my left side doesn't numb for some weirdo reason (I had the same issue with epidurals during labor/delivery). Needless to say, there was pain, quite a bit of blood, & there were many many more tears than I'd like to admit, & for a while there, I felt like there would never be an end to the madness. But as in life, the sun does set on these things & rises again in it's glory. I woke up today sore, but grateful I am alive, grateful I can do hard things, & SO VERY GRATEFUL this is done.
I recall a beautiful talk by Hugh B. Brown from 1973 about a currant bush. The gardner notices his currant bush has overgrown & begins to cut it back bit by bit. As he does so, it's as if he can hear the cries of the bush "How could you do this to me? I was making such wonderful growth. I was almost as big as the shade tree & the fruit tree that are inside the fence & now you have cut me down. How could you do this to me? I thought you were the gardner here." The gardner then replies "Look, little currant bush, I am the gardner here, & I know what I want you to be. I didn't intend you to be a fruit tree or a shade tree. I want you to be a currant bush, & someday little currant bush, when you are laden with fruit, you are going to say 'Thank you Mister Gardner, for loving me enough to cut me down. Thank you Mister Gardner.'" We all go through hard things in life. . . they vary from person to person & what is hard for one is not for another, but we all go through them. But these experiences in life make us stronger, wiser, they make us better people, & allow us to show our true potential. Today, I had to cut back my smile, one of the few things in life that make me ME. Now my smile is a little broken, "holey", & different than what it's been in the past. I needed to cut it back so that 2 years from now, a new, brighter, healthier, more perfect smile can emerge. . . stronger, happier, & true. I am grateful for hard things. I am grateful for the chance to push through these experiences & grow from them. I am strong! And I will continue to be strong, & I will continue to smile (holes & all) because that is who I am.
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| Original Smile with Teeth |
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| Original Smile with Teeth |
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| The culprits that were removed that will now make my smile much better |
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| Toothless |
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| Toothless |
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