Pulling Teeth

This last few weeks have been brutal for me. I've got a vacation coming up in two weeks and I'm doing everything I can to keep from losing my shit between now and when I load my plane. Its time for me to fly. My clients are cool, but I'm not built for this life. I need more stability. At least, I need more stability in my clients. But its difficult, when most of them need money to aid in whatever their problems are, but we don't live in a state that readily makes those resources available. But I digress. I will be landing elsewhere in just under 2 weeks. I will be staring at mountains on my birthday, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

To add insult to injury, on Tuesday afternoon, a toothache that had been plaguing me on and off for at least 4 years came back with vengeance. I've always known that I'd need to eventually get it pulled by a dentist, but for years, lack of proper dental coverage made that an impossibility. So I did what most uninsured Americans do and borrow pills from friends and take Tylenol until I'm vomiting blood. May not being the safest method, but it did what I needed it to do. Until Tuesday. I popped a pill or two and nothing worked. I tried oil-pulling, and nothing worked. I put peppermint oil on it. Nothing. Orajel? BWAHAHA!! My tooth laughed at that shit! Peroxide rinse? Waste of money! It was hopeless. I needed a dentist, STAT!

The supervisor in the department I was in at the time allowed me to take a long lunch to run my ass to the dentist, where it was quickly discovered that this wisdom tooth that I'd been stupidly ignoring was no longer going to be ignored.

Funny enough, I'd been thinking how much my dental insurance seemed like horse shit up until that point, since I haven't even looked at it at all for the last year and some change that I've had it. But I'm damned sure glad that I held onto it. To be honest, I held on more for The Boy than myself. I knew I'd take him eventually. I just didn't know when. But the dentist I went to was mad cool, friendly, a Black woman, and she takes kids. So, YES! I'm in!

I'm glad this hit now. My plan was initially (a few months back when I first started planning) to take my vacation last week or the week before, leaving me across the goddamned country when that tooth started to beat me like I stole something. I changed my date and pushed my vacation back, based on the fact that my favorite new singer has a concert this week, in addition to the fact that my cousin is due to have a baby any day now and I was asked to go by the home and help with their two young children while she's in labor. Naturally I was in. So here I am, down to 16 days. I can do this. In just over two weeks, I will step outside and see massive mountains as far as the eye can see. I will be in a land of nothingness, with people I don't know, who don't know me, who have no expectations of me. Please God, let this be soon. and painless. Please.