Erin's Journals

Thursday, March 17, 2022

Just a thought… I thought, instead of a quote, in honour of St. Patrick’s Day, I’d give you a little humour today – something that would have made my Irish-Canadian Grandad laugh. Two Irishmen are having a chat in the streets of Dublin, and one asks the other the quickest way to get to Cork. The other guy asks, “Well, are you driving or walking?” and the first guy says, “Driving.” And the second answers, “Well, that’s the quickest way.”

As always, you can watch a video version of this journal on my Facebook page, or here on YouTube.

Welcome in and a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you. Of course, with a name like Erin, you’d think I’d be celebrating a bit, but naw…just a quiet Thursday in our lives. And I’m okay with that. Quiet is good.

Last Friday when I had that dental surgery, it was recommended I keep talking to a minimum for three days. (I think it was probably one to begin with, but Rob tipped the receptionist.)

I don’t have any pictures of chipmunk cheeks or anything; no bruising or swelling. It’ll be another few months of missing molars and then I’ll get some implants. No, not the fun kind, just the teeth. And that’s about all you need to hear about that.

I will tell you about a few dollars I could have – should have – spent that could be saving me the cost of a basic subcompact car. And that’s this.

It’s just a piece of maleable plastic and you drop it in hot water, shape it to fit your upper teeth and then put it in at night. Here’s some added fun: finding it in the morning. Seems I like to take mine out while I’m sleeping, a practice that has occasionally, shall we say, come back to bite me in the butt.

Yes, there are real night guards and I have had a few of those (one which became a very expensive chew toy for one of our dogs, unfortunately) but with different work being done over the years, keeping up with the changes would have meant one new one after another.

I just wish I’d kept something in there. You may not think you grind or clench your teeth, and perhaps you don’t, but with the stress of the past few years, not just in our lives but in everyone’s, there’s a lot going on in our heads and our mouths that we can’t control.

I grit. I grind. I gnash. And that’s why my teeth paid the price. Maybe I shouldn’t have kept so much inside all those years, but you know how it is: be nice, don’t have an opinion and, whatever you do, don’t upset the apple cart. If you’re nodding right now, you get it; almost every woman our age has been there, done that, and in my case, got the receipts from rehab, shrinks and the LCBO.

Like I say, I wish I’d just kept up with the night time protection (and I know there’s a punchline in there, but I’m going to keep going). My 88-year-old dad credits his drug store mouth guard with keeping his natural chompers in great shape.

If we’re lucky, we don’t even think about our teeth. But when they give us trouble, just one angry tooth can demoralize you until you demolarize, if you get what I mean.

I hope that you have a gentle weekend and that if you are feeling stress, I’ve given you something to chew on, if you will.

Stay safe, stay sane and don’t forget we welcome spring on Sunday morning at 11:33 Eastern Daylight Time. And we don’t even have to touch our clocks to do it.

Rob WhiteheadThursday, March 17, 2022