The Past Bites

No matter what you do your past can sneak up on you when you least expect it and bite you in the ass...or other places.

For weeks I've been having awful pain in my teeth. This is crazy for me because I'm one of those borderline OCD hygienic types, especially when it comes to my teeth. I brush a couple times a day and floss regularly. I'm almost 32 years old and have never had a cavity. The only dental work I've ever had done other than regular check ups and cleanings is two wisdom teeth that were pulled.

I don't sound like someone who should be having dental woes do I?

Anyway I finally hauled my butt to the dentist. I hate going to any doctor mainly the time factor. I hate just sitting around doing nothing, totally not my style, anyway, I made an appointment and off I went.

Much to my dismay I found out two of my front teeth are necrotic...that means that they are pretty much dead. I wanted to cry. OMG, am I going to lose my teeth, be a toothless hag? I am way too vain for all that.

How could this happen? I've been so good?

Turns out a freakish accident I had as a child (I was playing, fell hard, and smacked my mouth on a coffee table when I was young, nine or younger not sure anymore, and my teeth were temporarily shoved up into my gumline). That incident damaged my nerves and my poor teeth have been dying for years, but no one ever knew because everything seemed fine until now. They just started bugging me for around the past month now. And it just keeps getting worse.

Want to know the really sucky part of all of this (as if the prospect of tremendous pain and losing my teeth wasn't enough)? Even though I have dental insurance through my husband's job I still have to fork over $685 to get two root canals. That's the amount the insurance doesn't cover. I can't make payments and I have to have it the day of the service.

What's the point in paying monthly for insurance if I still have to fork over that much cash? Oh and I'm a freelance writer with 3 kids. My husband's job is our only steady source of income, mine's here and there. Sometimes I have to wait along time to get paid.

$685 is a lot of money to a family of five, like a mortgage payment. So do I pay my mortgage or get my teeth fixed?

Yeah, I'm still in pain but not worrying about foreclosure anytime soon.

I'm putting away extra here and there and waiting not so patiently for some of my publishers to pay what they owe me. I just know this needs to get taken care of soon, cause it HURTS. The tooth pain is making me oh so cranky and giving me a headache, more than just my usual migraines.

The moral of the story...save up for a rainy day and try to be prepared cause you never know when your past will sneak up on you and wreak havoc in totally unexpected ways.

Who would have thought someone like me who takes excellent care of their teeth would end up needing two root canals? Thanks accident of childhood past for coming back to haunt me in a most terrible way.

Colleen Gleason, RT, and Adrian Paul

I was checking out fellow Michigan author, Colleen Gleason's, blog this week and she was talking about the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention (RT). She was talking about all the things she was going to do at the convention. And it all sounds like fun, dress up Balls, parties, author signings, work shops...Maybe someday I'll go, it would probably be great networking, I'm just so not a big crowd type of person. Hundreds, maybe thousands of romance fans, writers, and publishers crowded into one space...ugh. I think of all that crazy energy assaulting me...I don't know like I said not a big crowd type person. I'm more of a quiet one on one type gal or even a small intimate affair of several people talking and having a good time. I had my share of big crowds, parties, and clubs when I was younger, now I'm...no, not boring, I know what you were thinking, no, just more laid back I guess. I exhibit my wildness in more private settings.

Anyway, back to what I was talking about. RT, Colleen was talking about all the interesting things going on there then she gets to the Cover Model Reunion Dinner. What? Sexy hunks roaming around...the guys you see on the cover of those books in person, in real life? My interest was piqued. Then she said Adrian Paul was going to be there. OMG!!!! Talk about walking fantasy. I'd brave thousands of women and pay $$$ to have Adrian Paul for dinner...hhmm...I mean have dinner with Adrian Paul. ;-)

Adrian Paul is an amazing actor among many other things. His most famous role was probably as Duncan MacLeod on the TV series Highlander. Oh he was so yummy. Highlander was on when I was in my late teens and early twenties (mostly reruns by then I think) and while the other girls were drooling over Tom Cruise (blah), Brad Pitt (eternally handsome), and rock stars of the day, I fantasized about the dark and dreamy Duncan MacLeod with a slight Scottish brogue. That is one man I wouldn't mind seeing in a kilt or in anything else, though I think less would even be better.

But it's too late, I won't be heading off to Pittsburg so I miss a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet Adrian Paul. Oh well, reality rarely ever compares with fantasy so I'll just keep dreaming.