Lucky Number 7...Sorta

This week marks seven months with braces. I went to the orthodontist today and he was very pleased, surprised in fact, at how quickly my teeth have been moving. He said that this is unusual for an adult, and I'd like to think it's my joie de vivre, my girlish mien that is in some way giving my teeth the extra advantage. (I've always been told that I look much younger than I am...) I quite literally fall in love with him when he looks in my mouth and says "Good...this looks good." He put a stronger wire on today, and I can tell that it's stronger because it looks thicker, and even feels strange against the brackets. But I'm back to the routine--the teeth hurt. I'm feeling down and small. I want a cupcake.

The weather has finally warmed enough so that I can walk outside without freezing and I've taken to trekking 40 to 50 blocks after work so that I can feel the warmer weather on my skin and balance out all that sitting I do at my desk. I love how moving my body actually lets my mind expand. It helps bring me back to the very practical reasons why I am on this braces journey when it hurts, and I'm angry about it and looking for comfort. (And cupcakes are offering more detriment than succor.)

I found these quotes today:

"Every moment of one's existence, one is growing into more or retreating into less. One is always living a little more or dying a little bit." Norman Mailer

"Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. You can't get there by bus, only by hard work and risk and by not quite knowing what you're doing. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself." Alan Alda