Flaws

So I had a little dental work done today.....

5 hours of being in a dental chair little.  

When I was 8, my newly permanent front tooth was knocked out completely courtesy of my big sister Kim pulling me off a bathroom cabinet. I hit my open mouth on the hard counter top and it split it in half. Long way. The next day the other half fell out in my breakfast cereal bowl. 

Needless to say, I have had years of dental work. From a partial flipper of just that one tooth until it was permanently placed in high school. Then a bridge placed 2x through my adult years. 

And I've never been completely happy with how it looked. Don't get me wrong-each change was an improvement over the previous one, but I still hated the way my smile looked. It bothered me in all my pictures. 

Most of you have no idea my 3 front teeth have been fake for the last 36 years of my life. And until I post the pics and point it out, you probably have never even noticed. 

But I knew it. And they bothered me. 

It was a flaw. 

One, that to me, stuck out as big as if it were a third eye in the middle of my forehead.  And I longed to have it fixed. So today, I did. 

And Dr Erica Fisher and her staff at Family Dental Care did a fabulous job!  I am ecstatic at how it turned out. 

Here is the smile I've had for the last 9 years-which is the last time I had the bridge re-done. And you will probably not notice what I hate about it-but if you look, you'll see how my 2 front teeth are HUGE compared to the teeth on either side of them. I feel like I look like a chipmunk.  

See-chipmunk teeth. 

Today-in stages:

Carbocaine injected in my gums pre-pulling of the old bridge. 

And this is your mouth on meth...lol. 

No seriously-the missing the middle tooth is where my permanent one was knocked out. Over the years, I've had the other two shaved down for bridges. 

Nice huh? 

Finished product!  I love it!!  

See how perfectly lined up they are?  

I seriously am over the moon with how gorgeous they turned out. 

Now, I'm sure some of you are thinking I'm a vain bitch complaining about a few uneven teeth. But inside, it really bothered me every time I looked in the mirror.  

It was a flaw. 

A superficial flaw. 

A cosmetic flaw. 

And I hated it. 

And now it's fixed. 

And I can't stop smiling. 

(Or running my tongue over them because they are so smooth and even now!)

So let's talk flaws. 

We all have them. 

Some are cosmetic, like this one. 

And I'm sure nobody, not even my husband, can understand how much it bothered me. Or that it even did. 

But it was my flaw. 

My crack in a perfectly smooth surface.

My third eye. 

And I took the plunge to fix it. 

To make it prettier, better, to make my smile what I've always wanted it to look like. 

Some flaws are not cosmetic like this one. 

Some are character flaws. 

Being judgemental. 

Big flaw. 

I've got that one too. 

I jump to conclusions when I see people. 

Heck-when I see a person with a mouth like mine in that picture up there, I automatically assume they do drugs. 

Or don't have good hygiene. 

I don't stop to think that maybe their sister knocked their teeth out and they haven't been as fortunate as me to have parents who could afford dental care to fix them. 

Big character flaw. 

And one I am working to fix. 

Every single day. 

One that we all have. 

And one that we can all work on. 

That cheesy saying about  "be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about"  Wendy Mass the Candymakers 

Well, I've always tried to live like that, but I'm not perfect and I've been judgy and condemning. 

Flaw. 

And only I can fix that flaw. 

It was easy for me to fix the cosmetic flaw I had. It will be harder to fix the character one. 

But every day that I look in the mirror and smile and see that one thing that bothered me was fixable, I know that is one more day I have to work on my other flaws. 

That I have another day to be less judgy. 

Less condemning. 

Less assuming. 

Wouldn't the world be a wonderful place if all our flaws could be fixed in 5 hours?

With each smile, I know that it's my opportunity to continue working on my personal flaws.   

And my opportunity to be kinder. 

And my opportunity to help someone else fight their battle I know nothing about.  

I encourage everyone to think about their personal flaws. 

Cause we all got 'em. 

And if we all worked on them one smile at a time, this world would be a much better place. 

Thanks again Dr Erica and Jenna and Kim and everyone at Family Dental Care!  

Rawley Re-cap

While Hailey is back in the OR having her tonsils taken out, I figured I would do a little update. 

Rawley life is as crazy, hectic, hair-on-fire, hot mess express normal as usual. 

In a nutshell: 

Ethan had two admissions so far this year-doing awesome now. Asthma under control.   Endocrine has decided his little testes have not dropped enough and stayed down-so off to urology surgeon Dr Murphy in October for probable surgery.  

Parker finished his sophomore year (barely) just turned 16 and just got his driver's permit. He has decided not to play football this year, but focus on his grades and choir and is working towards raising money for a choir trip to Austria next spring. Starts his Junior year in about a month. 

Hailey graduated from Staley with the Gold Medallion degree-the highest honor in the NKCH District.  She is off to University of Arkansas in 30 days to major in Biology with plans to attend Medical School and become a Pediatrician that works with special needs kiddos like the bald kid. She is also enrolling in the Air Force ROTC program through UofA. 

Brian is still working days with the KCPD at the Shoal Creek Division Station and it is his 21st year with the department.  He is also working with another company doing fraud investigations and claims cases-which is setting him up for his retirement job. 

I am working full time again at NKCH and love being back with all my awesome co-workers!  I am 3 years cancer free and counting. 

We took a fabulous family vacation in June to Florida. Spent a week on Universal property and had an absolute blast at the parks! I rode more rides than I did the last time we went because I figured it was 'now or never' and I'm living and looking forward with no regrets and no missed experiences. Even if that experience was only Dr Doom's Fear Fall!

 And I loved it!! 

Parker even took on some rides he wouldn't do last trip!

Spent a few days in the Tampa/Clearwater area-gorgeous beach BTW and had the best seafood ever at Frenchy's! 

Most of all it was a whole lot of family time spent laughing, and fighting and just being crazy weird together before Hailey is off to college. 

Awesome memories were made!

Perfect timing because the Surgeon just came out and said Hailey Jayne did fantastic-tonsils were huge and full of holes and puss pockets and it was a good call getting them out before school. 

Now to get my loopy girl home and settled before I head to the cancer center for a shot. 

I promise, pinky swear, swear on my children's lives I will update this blog more often.  

As a matter of fact, I will be updating again later today or tomorrow, so stay tuned!