Guess which one is which?

1) Seen on a bumper sticker attached to the car in front of me: “When I get hot, I take my top down”. I did a double take; at first I didn’t realize the car was a convertible.

2) Six-month routine check up with Thomas’ orthodontist turned out to be not-quite-so routine. Dr. M. had some concerns that some of Thomas’ permanent teeth weren’t coming in by now. He requested x-rays. Turns out his concerns were substantiated. Thomas’ teeth are coming in at an angle and Dr. M. imagines future, more painful oral surgery if we don’t make a path now for the yet-to-surface teeth. This means pulling four baby teeth that are “in the way”.

Why is this worthy of a good cry? a) Thomas, THE Thomas you’ve already read about, is missing eight–yep EIGHT–permanent teeth (he has his two front top and four front bottom, but on either side of those, he’s missing the two pair on either side of the top and bottom); b) He has already had FIVE teeth pulled; this will bring the total to NINE; c) He’ll have his two front top teeth, then there will be space enough for FOUR teeth on either side of those; d) He intially cried when I told him, which absolutely does me in, ’cause, boy, I FEEL HIS PAIN! (evidently, I’m a peacock, too 😉 ).

The upside, the upside, remind me of the upside! Oh, yeah, it could be worse; a) we have a friend whose daughter has ONLY her two front teeth. She’ll have a mouthful of implants before all is said and done, and at the cost of $3,000-$4,000 per tooth, she could have a Lamborghini. b) Dr. M CAN make a retainer with teeth that, in his words, “looks pretty good” c) I guess novocaine and nitrous are upsides d) insurance covers at least a portion of the cost.

Can I still cry?

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