Dental Surprises

     A couple of weeks ago I was telling Leif that I hadn't been to the dentist in awhile and wanted to get a checkup.  Our schedule was changed around that day, so he suggested I see if I could get in that afternoon (the dentist is about 100 yards away from our door). They had a perfect space in their schedule and took me right in.  The first surprise of the day was that I didn't have any cavities.  Hooray!  While I was there I asked if they could give me a cleaning.  I had forgotten that the last time I got a cleaning (3 years ago!) I had told myself that I would never do it again here, as it was a pretty horrifying experience.  But time makes you forget, and there's a new dentist here that's super nice (he's given the kids checkups for free).   He whisked me into the chair and began to cover me with protective gear (see picture of Leif above).  This is the point that I remembered the last cleaning!  I told him I was a little scared, and he said, "Don't worry!  It won't hurt".  Then he proceeded to give me shots all over my mouth.  I wish I had counted, but there were AT LEAST 9 shots... and as many as 12!  (the second surprise of the day)  He was right.  It didn't hurt at all.  And my mouth was more numb than it's ever been because it was numb ALL OVER THE PLACE!  It was at this point that I thought, "Leif has to experience this!"  So I called him and in my best effort to talk normally, told him there was an opening for him, too.  It wasn't in his plans, but he hadn't been to the dentist in ten years and decided it was a good idea. As soon as he arrived he saw how crazy my mouth was and couldn't help laughing at me.  I snapped a picture of him before I left (the only thing that's left out is the huge funny ring that held his mouth open). The third surprise was that he didn't have any cavities either.  Hooray!  And he came home with a super numb mouth, too.

     But the biggest surprise was that our kids were totally traumatized by our numb mouths.  They dressed up in costumes and made signs and marched around the house, shouting "Don't ever numb your mouths again!"  There were even tears over our mouths.

     We had planned on inviting one of our neighbors (an older lady) over for tea that afternoon, but I seriously couldn't talk, so we waited until evening to send the kids over and invite her.  By then she was already getting ready for bed, so the kids asked if they could invite a different neighbor and her daughter.  They came back 5 minutes later with these new friends, and we had a nice evening talking with regular mouths about lots of things- some spiritual and some not.  The day didn't turn out how we'd originally planned, but it was good all the same!