YESTERDAY

OK. I've received several notes which objected to my
ealier picture of Big Teeth, etc. So here is the actual
(yeah, right!) picture of my dentist and assistant -grin!
Now that all the comments are in, no one is left to be

offended...maybe...hopefully?

YESTERDAY
(amended)

For fifty years I have avoided dentists until it was either make the appointment--or die. And so I ended up with lots of teeth missing--one-by-one...gone! Well, at least I don't know where they are-grin!

About forty years ago a dentist friend in Naples loaded my mouth with gold, so I could receive six different AM radio stations--in my head! Women tried to abduct me (yeah, Steve, in your dreams!) for the gold I would cough up one day. Guys called me Fort Knox, then shortened that name to Old Fort. Well, you can guess what that sounded like: "Hey, ya old fort"! (See?)

So, although my teeth are all 'in there' like as in 'permanent partials'--they are glued in and onto "other" teeth, the few remaining. I have had a dozen root canals, lovingly named by dental assistants as RCs. The permanently-glued teeth fit right over RCs and an unknowing soul--if interested--might say, "He still has all his teeth." In a way that's true. Because I bought and paid for them.

My latest dentist is a 'high-end' guy, he also has a law degree, is young, has a family of five to support. His office is located on the second floor overlooking the bay of Naples. Each 'workroom' is equipped with the absolute latest in 'stuff'. That's all I can call it--STUFF! Little things go into my mouth and send out beeping signals in different tones, each meaning something BAD. I tell the nurse what actual musical NOTES the beeps are making. She is unimpressed.

OK, the beginning. Upon entering the office, I am offered orange juice, coffee, a sweet roll, or bottled water. This the eighth time I've been there, so I know the routine. Have breakfast, Steve! I'm then ushered into what could be the "captain's lounge" atop a cruise liner. The ceiling-to-floor and wall-to-wall picture window is really a painting...wait! NO! it is Naples Bay. Hundreds of anchored boats--all kinds and sizes, mostly B.I.G. are swaying in the light morning breezes, many of them worth millions.

Gazing at this beautiful scene from the comfort? of a dentist's chair, I watch the birds, hoping some of them would be there when I left the place. In order to give me some good financial luck! The assistant dental lady asks me what channel I'd like to watch? I say none. Next she brings in an iPod, shows me how to use it, and, through the finest of Bose headphones, I'm listening to Beethoven's great Ninth Symphony. I mean, this place is HEAVEN!

I've been needle-stuck in my mouth hundreds of times, but never with not even a slight hint of a prick on the gum, until this morning. The dentist, a church friend, told me he will do a procedure he NEVER does. Knowing how un-wealthy I am, he is going to do two fillings UNDER the gum line, and save me thousands of bucks, as in RCs and partial replacements. I think that's F.I.N.E. Really! (When I was age 15, a filling cost $3...now a single filling goes for $300. That's with TV, remote, iPod, Bose heads, a picture window, and totally painless procedures.

As I left that office I thanked God for loving, caring health-care people, that I could pay them, and that two hours seemed like 15 minutes--in a dentist's office "RC" chair.

Also, the two tooth aches which I've been harboring for 5 months, are miraculously GONE today! They were getting bothersome. I never told the dentist about them. Thank You, God!

Ya know, AA says to take care of our health, so that we are then free to help others. It sure makes sense. Ill health is part of that ..."seemingly hopeless state of mind and body..." from which the first 100 in AA recovered, according to the first paragraph in the Forward to the First Edition of the Big Book.

Let's all stay well--and sober, today...together! OK?

In love and service,
Sincerely,
Steve E.

NOTE TO PAM: Pam, that's IT! I'm quitting blogging. Now, and forever.
Hereafter, I shall keep my blog and name, etc., but I will just link to your blog. Because since last July 1, you have said everything I wish I had written. Every single friggin' DAY! OK? -grin!