Just One Of Those Days

           This is just one of those days. I left the house at 4:45am to be at 1st Dental in Sierra Vista, about a 70 mile trip. My appointment was for 7:00am. I pulled in the parking lot at 6:13am. I was so happy when a dental technician came out to my truck right away and said I might as well come on in.

As soon as I got inside he said come on up, asked all the questions about insurance, etc., and immediately started inputting my information into the computer. So cool. Didn’t make me wait ’till my 7 o'clock appointment. The whole process went way more smooth than I had thought it would, better than I could have ever hoped for. I was loving these guys. I was checking out before my originally scheduled appointment.

I need to mention here that I was there to get my dentures adjusted. So, I paid my bill, and when the lady handed me my credit card back with the receipt for $477 she told me the guy who comes to pick up my dentures, to do whatever it is he does with them, would be out until Monday. SHOCK!!!! When I made the appointment they said I would be without my teeth, toothless, overnight. I had mentally prepared myself for that all week long. Doable. This…shocked me. I told her if only I would have known that I would have waited until the guy was going to be in next week to make my appointment. She handed me an appointment card for Monday, April 28, at 8:30am.

I have Church this Sunday, and was to be at the Benson Museum Saturday to work. Activities I love, and my little church ladies and museum ladies depend on me.

When things like this happen to me my knee jerk reaction is to revert to mental levelers. Thoughts that help me level out, to lessen the severity of the situation, so I can cope.  So while driving the 70 miles back home to Vail, AZ, feeling dismayed, disconcerted, insecure without my teeth, toothless, I started in with the mental levelers.

#1. This won't kill me. I’m still alive. I always seem to start with this one.

#2. If people think I'm ugly without teeth they'll think how good looking I am Monday when I get my teeth back.

#3. Humbling experiences build character. I'm developing a strong character (if I live).

#4. I'll have a legitimate reason to hide away & read until Monday.

#5. Without teeth I can’t chow down on cookies and hamburgers like I've been doing so my pants will fit better by Monday. 

Whoa! I'm doubly getting excited about how good I'm going to look on Monday.

O.K. I'm starting to cheer up.

#6. I’ll save money on Sea Bond.

Then another fall through the floor embarrassing moment when I had to revert to mental levelers popped to mind. I live out in the country. The middle of the desert in Southeastern Arizona. One day after leaving Benson, the town I go to to shop for groceries, I had to pee. I pulled off on a dirt road that, if followed to the end, went to the Dobson Ranch. Safely out of site from Cascabel Road, the road home, I parked, stepped out of my truck, pulled my pants down, and proceeded to water the dusty dry desert. How do you spell relief? P-E-E. Well, mid-pee here comes a truck full of mexican men who work at the Dobson Ranch on their way to town. They were fairly kind; didn’t get too loud in their cajoling. Nothing I could do; open view to them; caught with my pants down. What could I do? They passed. I gathered myself, and on the way home I started in on my mental levelers.

#1. This won't kill me. I’m still alive.

#2. When I was in college my friends and I would get drunk and moon people on purpose.

#3. Some people do the full monte and streak for fun or political reasons. And they are sober.

#4. I don't speak spanish so any hurtful things they said won’t ring in my ears over the years.

#5. At least I didn't wet my pants.

#6. When I get really old I can think about how good my ass looked way back when I got caught with my pants down out in the middle of the desert. You know, compared to when I'm a hundred and three years old.

So, happy Wednesday, here’s to Monday, April 28th, at 8:30am!

I'm hanging in there!!!!!

TOMBSTONE DIDN'T DIE

          I did not plan on going to Tombstone yesterday. The battery on my iPhone went dead within fifteen minutes upon arrival. Sierra Vista was yesterdays destination. There is a light bulb store there that brags they can get any bulb you need. Well, I need a bulb for a Kodaslide table viewer, model A, made in the 40's. They did not have it, but they are going to search for one and let me know Monday if my trip was wasted.

          I decided I had seen enough of highway 90. My sense of adventure told me to go home via highway 80, through Tombstone. What a payoff. Should have charged my phone on the way. Oh well. Next time Tombstone will be my destination and my phone will be charged.

I love this street performer. Called himself Redbone. Has a really neat spiel. I told him he is a national treasure.  He said he doesn't think anyone else feels that way and that it was a tough crowd. Hope he's there when I go back. He told me all about his historical instruments, his style, the origin of this style of music. Of course I didn't have a notebook or tape recorder. Me - the want to be writer - never prepared.
          I'll be ready next time. Destination Tombstone via highway 80. Phone charged, tape recorder on. Gonna wear my boots, too.