Familial Festivities..

Dave and I had dental appointments today. It was my turn with the x-ray machine, but I got the expert and it didn't take half as long as Dave's did last week. I got to meet with crazy Dr. Aaron after that. His pants weren't as bright this trip, but his personality still more than made up the difference.

I'm not crazy thrilled to go to the dentist, under any circumstances, but I have to admit.. today was kind of nice. From the receptionist, to the x-ray technician, to the dental hygienist and all the way up the chain to Dr. Aaron I got a million compliments on my great teeth, and bright smile. The first several times I brushed them aside. Yeah right.. you guys see teeth ALL day.. I'm sure you've seen your fair share of nice looking mouths. It was flattering that they felt the need to assure me that teeth like mine don't come along every day. Wow. Seriously? You're not just giving me a hard time? lol. It was nice. Dr. Aaron has signed me up to fix a couple of my previous fillings that need filling in a little bit, but otherwise I got a clean and glowing bill of health. (A surprise to me, since it's been just as long since I've been in a dentist's chair as it has been for Dave).

I learned a little something about my mouth today. The x-ray tech peered into my mouth. Ooh, you have tori. I do? What the.. heck is Tori? It weirds you out a little bit when they talk about things you don't understand in that puzzled clinical way. Apparently, Tori are cartilage or bone lumps in the mouth that aren't supposed to be there. (Unfortunately, if they've always been there, and no ones ever told you about them, how do you know they're not supposed to be there?). They grow naturally over time, and sometimes they're hereditary. My mother was not impressed when I came home and started poking around inside her mouth to see where I got these tori from. Culprit found. Dear mother has them too, just not as pronounced as mine. They're not a problem unless they become too big and need to be surgically grinded away. Mine have always been the size they are, so.. I'm sure there's nothing for me to worry about there. It was interesting though. (I'm sure this is terribly entertaining for everyone to read about though, so.. forgive me, I'll move on, lol).

I find it funny though that the nicer the teeth, the stricter the lecture. Dave's teeth are a mess, (thanks to his childhood dentist not removing his wisdom teeth when he should have), and Dave didn't get a single order on taking care of his teeth. Amy on the other hand, needs to brush before bed, and has to undergo proper flossing technique classes because teeth as nice as mine need to stay that way, and that's an order, thank you very much.

Dave got his cleaning today that Dr. Lalonde insisted he have before he even take a peek inside Dave's mouth. His smile was brightened up ten fold today, and he's been smiling ever since. I think it did a little something for his confidence too. Today was a free day, but the future visits will all require a little green in the pocket before they'll fix up what needs fixin. They really bullied Dave to get those extractions today, but we were firm. We can't put them back in if Dr. Lalonde needs them, so they stay until we get the okay for them to come out, and that's the end of that. They begrudgingly left us to it.

The family had a cookout tonight. Chris and Tina and Dalton came over for a nice meal out on the grill, and some visiting. It's always nice to see them. Dalton begged to play on the mini-chopper motorbikes that Wayne's been tinkering with all week. I've never ridden anything with a clutch and gears to shift through, so I adamantly rejected getting on one of them. They poked fun at me, telling me that if a ten year old could do it, I could. Ha, don't bet on it, I said, lol. I got the basic lesson of what to do and when to do it, but I didn't get the finer details, like pounding the shift pedal firmly and not gently, and letting off the gas when you do it. Oh, and how to stop! (The latter of which suddenly became very necessary when we were more than a block from home, and Dalton.. ten year old pro-biker extraordinaire ate pavement in front of me and couldn't lift the bike off him to get up). It was quite a site, I'm sure.. as I tried to hold one bike that still wanted to go, and move another bike that didn't want to go, off a kid with bloody elbows. It all sounds very dramatic, but Dalton came away with just a minor scrape on the elbow; everything else was helmeted, and padded, thankfully. (Oh, and these bikes are tiny little things, hard to explain, but you're like a foot off the ground, lol). Anyway.. I've gotten ribbed the rest of the night, because apparently, I never made it out of first gear. Ha, hah.

It's definitely been an interesting evening, to be sure. I'm actually kind of glad it's all one quiet now. There are a lot of holiday festivities planned over the next three days involving singers, and parades, and fireworks, good food, family time, and much more. It should be a great week. Happy Fourth Fun everyone! Thank You for joining us tonight, and until next time, Much Love, Many Hugs, and Good Night to You All.