Friday, April 27, 2012

an overshare

something major happened this week.  now i don't know whose definition of "major" you measure things up against, but if its mine, then by all means, this was big.  and if you're at all familiar with how we get down around here, then you already know that whatever it was, i am going to blow it way out of proportion and make a much bigger deal about it than is necessary.

i just want to be up front about that.

so something major happened and it was about 20 years in the making and it's safe to say that it brought the world's biggest smile to my face.  i started a process nearly three years ago and it finally concluded on wednesday.  i had my braces taken off and for the first time in my life, i took a look in the mirror at a mouth full of straight teeth.

now i get it, this isn't that big of a deal, but you don't understand, i have wanted straight teeth since i was ten years old. for the last 20 or so years i wondered what it would be like to have them.  i loathed my crooked teeth.  i was super self conscience about them and i often covered my mouth when i laughed just to avoid an over-share of awfulness.

i never got braces because we either couldn't afford them when i was growing up or i just couldn't convince myself to take the plunge as an adult, but three years ago, someone set me straight.

i was mid conversation with a friend at work when they stopped me mid-sentence and said: stop covering your mouth when you laugh.  it draws more attention to the fact that you are trying to hide your teeth than if you just laughed like a normal person.

someone was onto me.  so i finally decided the time was right and i went for it.

i started with invisalign and it worked.  for about two years.  to be fair, invisalign requires incredible discipline and dedication and well.....  it was hard.  plus there is that whole wear them 22 hours a day unless you're eating or drinking thing, which is odd because the hours of the day when i'm not doing either of those things are more like four.  not 22.

so they worked, for the most part, but for the time, the money and the overall lifetime of waiting for this result, i wasn't completely satisfied.  as a result, i have spent the past eight months in actual braces to finish the job up right.

now what's funny to me is that during this process some of my closest friends and loving family members swear that they never noticed i had bad teeth to begin with.

pbth!

i love you family and i love you friends, but, hogwash.  which is why after years of covering my mouth when i smile, laugh or get too close for comfort, i am willing to display where things stood three years ago and where we're finally at today.  i would have never allowed this to happen before now and i warn you dear readers, it isn't pretty.

so without further adieu - i can't believe i am going to do this - but here i was circa 2009...


hot.

and here i am today...

yay.

it's funny how something so superficial can make you feel better about something as simple as smiling.  back at work once they were off and i was laughing with my co-workers again.  i felt my hand go to cover up my mouth and i quickly put it back down.  breaking a habit you've had for 20+ years isn't always easy, but i don't think i'll have a problem letting this one go.

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