Day Six: Orthodontics.

Got up at seven. Said goodbye to the family as they headed out for school/work. Got on the computer. Left for the orthodontics like two hours early. (And just a side note: The road kill in Arkansas is horrible! Armadillo grave-yard! Holy Cow! I must have passed like twenty of them!) -I got in to my appointment an hour early. Ha! A lot of good that did!

I thought this appointment would be like any other: In and out. The assistants are really good about speed. Besides, I was only getting my braces tightened and looking over an X-ray of my wisdom teeth. (Turns out I'll have to get all four of them pulled. Ugh!) But No! Today just happened to be totally different! They let a new girl work on my teeth! Holy Cow! She had no idea what she was doing! She was like yanking and pulling and I could just see the confusion in her face. She was all worried and kept glancing around the room for help. But I was patient with her, even when she was taking my wires out and set half of it on my cheek while she attempted to "pry" the other side out. And these are metal wires, keep in mind. It was like poking into my skin and it hurt so bad! I seriously thought I was going to bleed! Lucky for me I guess, it didn't puncture the skin. No blood involved.

And then, while she was working on who-knows-what inside my mouth, I felt my mouth close -and you know, the mouth does that automatically, it's not like I did it on purpose. Anyway, I felt this rubber thing between my teeth and it took me a few seconds to realize that it was the girl's finger. I opened my mouth really fast and made sure that I kept it WIDE open. (well, it wasn't the first time I bit my assistant...) But anyway, after fiddling with my mouth she made a few notes on the computer and I sheepishly asked her if I had actually bit her just then. Her answer made me turn a little red. I had. I apologized and would have apologized again if my mouth hadn't been preoccupied... It's hard to hold a conversation when your mouth is open. Well...you know what I mean.

Anyway, she just laughed and said that it was funny. That I apologized mostly. I don't know. I felt really bad. Well, not that bad. I didn't actually bite her, I just put my teeth together and her fingers happened to be there...

Well anyway, now I have to wear lots of rubber bands. Ugh. Nightmares. I have to ware five of them. And in funny positions. Big ole' boxes and I have to double up on the right side. Ouch! They hurt like crazy! If my cousins hadn't made me promise to eat every single meal I'd be sure to skip a few. It hurts WAY too much to keep taking them out and putting them back in. It feels like my mouth is completely glued together! And I have to keep them in for twenty one hours in a day. I can only take them out when I brush and when I eat. But my orthodontics said that if I keep them in while I eat (even thought it may be messy) the process will go faster.

...On the bright side of these horrid bands, I'll more than likely get my braces out in about three to four months instead of the original six. They may be out by the end of August or mid-September. How cool is that!? I may have to boost some of my payments though... My dad sounded kinda skeptical when I told him that they might com e out early. He doesn't think they'll be taken out until I've made all my payments. But I don't mind. I can make my payments a little early...

Haha. When my orthodontics came by to give me a final he looked over my X-rays and told me that he really did not like the way my wisdom teeth were looking. They'll have to come out. Anyway, at one point me told me to close my mouth and then open it, and I felt so embarrassed! When I was opening my mouth my jaw popped! He made a face and told me that that was really not good. Well, it's not like I could help it! My jaw sets all the time! It gets really annoying...

Well, I made my follow-up appointment and drove to Carthage. I left for home after I said goodbye to my dad at his work. He likes it when I stop by and say goodbye. Saying it this morning wasn't good enough. Huh -Dads. What can you do?

The drive home really wasn't too bad. Just before I left I asked my dad what he does to stay awake when he drives. He said that he listens. Not to music, but to books. He suggested that I listen to a book. That made sense. It would keep my brain focused on something other than the soothing familiar music. But I only had one set of books on my mp3, and I'd already listened to them a few weeks ago. But then I remembered something. I had recorded my family reminiscing with Jacob just before he left on his mission. A few of my aunts and uncles were there and so were some of my cousins, and my grandparents of course. It had been a very humorous evening. We told stories of siblings and the embarrassing moments that we shared with Jacob. It was really funny. Anyway, I took to listening to that and it made me really miss my brother. Ha! He's only been gone like three days!

I got home about six-thirty and took a shower. My car was really roasty! Wow! I was so sweaty! My back was soaked and bleh! Yeah, it wasn't good. My air conditioning doesn't work and having the widows down when its really hot outside really doesn't work. After my shower I cooked dinner, folded laundry, and watched a movie on the television. I never did figure out what it was called. Some old basketball movie.

The movie ended just before the nine o'clock news. I watched that too. It was actually rather unsettling, to say the least. Then, just before I drifted away on the couch, I turned off the TV and decided I was too tired to go upstairs to my abandoned bed. So, I slept on the couch. Of course my 5'6" body didn't fit well on six foot couch, due, I assume, to the small pillow that took up a surprisingly large amount of space. Needless to say, I continually woke during the night, trying to make myself comfortable, until at one in the morning I decided I'd had enough.

With the light of my cell phone (I kept it ever close by, you know, just in case someone decided to call) I slumped to my room and made myself comfortable on the bed.

I'm not sure why, but I continued to wake during the night -or 'morning' I should say -Constantly tossing and turning. I don't know what was wrong with me. I woke nearly a dozen times, but only bothered to check the time twice. Once just after three and again at five. I almost decided to just get up then, but thought myself out of it as I would probably be too tired for work the next morning -or well, the following evening.

I think my restlessness was a combination of several things. Number One: My teeth hurt incredibly. Number Two: it was dreadfully hot; I still hadn't recovered from the oven-like drive home. Number Three: I was completely alone and utterly aware of it. And number four: My body was all in sores from being in the sitting position for over five hours straight. Ugh.