GETTING OLDER YET STILL KEEPING A SMILE ON YOUR FACE

I get inspired to write my blogs sometimes by things people say to me and sometimes my life situations.  A couple of people and situations inspired this one. 

My new dentist looked a tad shocked when I told him my age, and how proud I was to still have most of my teeth.  I don’t tell my age except to the medical profession because they will check my records and know if I am lying. I only hoped his shock was genuine.  If you are a much younger reader, you may not appreciate this but someday you will.  On my next visit I decided to show him a photo of a much younger me featuring a big smile so he could see how my teeth used to be.  This time he said, “you look the same.”  That picture was about 40 years old! I loudly replied for the staff to hear, “You should get a raise for saying that to me!”  He just smiled.  Was he serious?  If so, I can thank my Momma for that. You see when I was growing up my mother had a special instruction for me. To explain you must understand that I was diagnosed very near-sighted at a young age. Sometimes I did not like to wear glasses so I would squint. Mother would catch me and warn me that if I continued to do that, I would get wrinkles! That is horrifying to a Southern Lady so I eventually learned not to squint; and voila, no wrinkles or at least very few.

My whole point with the picture was for him to understand how challenging it may be to retrain me at this stage of my life. I will not be telling my current age here, but you may guess when you see the photo. I did not even know what he was talking about when he said I should bring all my dental equipment to our next session including my “Interdental” supplies so he could work with me on better dental hygiene to save my teeth.  All the while I am thinking “my toothbrush and what else?  What the blank is interdental?”  FYI, I live in Hungary, so sometimes English speakers are speaking British while I speak American.  I am thinking, “Maybe it’s a British thing? I will Google this when I get home.”  Oh, he also informed me that I should purchase an electric brush and spend 8 seconds on each tooth, and each side. 

*Side note:  Since I have been in Hungary, I have been teaching English and I am learning there is a very big difference in English across the Pond. 

So back at home I am tapping on my keyboard: I-n-t-e-r-d-e-n-t-a-l?  Hmm. If you don’t know either, let me explain.  Interdentals are very small brushes that look like they could clean a very tiny toilet.  You graduate to those when you fail at flossing and the dentist finds that tiny particle you missed.

On my next visit I obviously did not bring any interdentals.  So, he showed me a picture.  I was a little ashamed about my failure to have them, but I did score some good points for buying a brand-new electric brush with extra heads which cost over $125 USD (that is about 41000 HUF/Forint)!  And I got lessons on how to use it.  I did not confess I had those lessons in the past. (I once owned a Waterpik! That's like the Cadillac of dental equipment. I wonder what I did with it? I need to stop mentally reminiscing and pay attention.) Next we discussed the amount of time I should spend cleaning my teeth: Eight seconds on each side of each tooth.  Let’s say you have all your teeth except for the 4 wise ones.  28 times 2 equals 56 times 8 seconds equals 448.  He did not know who he was dealing with, because I did the math! That adds up to, with a little rounding, less than 8 minutes.  However, he said I should spend about 30 minutes at least twice a day using my new dental products!  I wonder if he was including the interdental in his calculations. I told him I grew up in a military family, which meant dental care was not the best.  It was more like torture and not much training.  I did not learn about flossing until I was an already poorly trained adult.  It was not a childhood habit.  I did have wooden toothpicks.  My dentist would be horrified if I brought those into his office.  I already knew this was a big NO-NO because my husband mentioned them to his dentist and got a lecture.  Whew!  Glad I missed that speech!

I am grateful I have this well-trained young orthodontist who said mine was ‘not the worst case he had seen’.  How was I supposed to take that?  I decided to be optimistic. Still smiling. I thought orthodontists put braces on children.  Mine would be doing deep scaling because I had gum disease. I have had this done before. Yes, it is as painful as it sounds so they shoot me full of lidocaine and only do part of my mouth at a time.  Every single tooth gets attention, and I get to keep smiling once the pain subsides thanks to a team of professionals and my new dental equipment.

One thing about getting old is we tend to talk more about our health.  I once visited a church when I was younger, and a friend advised me not to join the organ recital class. I was fascinated that there was a whole group of skilled musicians who had their own class, so she explained to naïve little me: They are seniors, and they talk constantly about their organs and health issues: liver transplants, heart operations, hemorrhoids and so on. “Ewe!  I will never do that!” Never, say never.

This brings me to a new point.  A person brought up the topic of how you know you are getting or acting old.  Well, how often do you talk about your organs?  Or are you happy when someone thinks you are younger?

It used to irritate me when I was mistaken for a younger person.  I was getting carded in my 30’s.  How annoying!  Now when I buy alcohol no one asks to see my ID and I am a little sad about the good old days. ;D

Also, I had a prospective employer ask my age.  Yes, that is illegal, but hard to prove.  My reply was that I was old enough to join the AARP (American Association of Retired People).  They start solicitation at age 55.  I did not tell him how long they had been after me to join. All he wanted to know was, would I be dependable? He was satisfied with my nonanswer.

As I got older when people were so rude as to ask about my age, I had the perfect answer.  I am 29…on the inside.  For a couple of years people thought I was 29, as I have always looked a bit younger than my actual calendar age.  Because I am petite in stature and I used to be also petite in weight when I was in my 30’s, I was also asked to babysit when I got home from school.  My answer to that was I had my own baby.  Mother looked horrified when I said that to a young couple at church in her presence and quickly let those folks know I was married and a bit older than I looked. Sorry, Mom!

Another sign of getting older is how you dress.  I have managed not to dress totally as an old person.  I wear comfortable but stylish shoes.  Stopped wearing heels after I broke a bone in my foot.  Not worth it.  And now I mostly wear slacks.  I used to love suits and dresses, but slacks are more practical for seniors who don’t want to deal with pantyhose and need to stay warmer.

Another way to fool others about age is to stay modern.  Keeping up with computing, staying informed, learning new terminology.  I had to ask my daughter what a hashtag was all about when they arrived on scene.  She also helped me when I transitioned from a PC to a MAC.  Boy was that a learning curve!  It’s a good idea to hang out with younger people, too. I am learning about Hungarian history and politics from a very smart client who is 11.  Most of my adult clients are the ages of my kids.

My parents lived to be in their late 80’s. I am not quite there yet. They would comment about going to visit the old folks when they were still living at home.  “Aren’t you older than some of those people?”  They just laughed at me, because they still looked and acted younger. They were in denial, but it worked for them.  I hoped at some future stage of life, it would work for me as well.

My last personal comment on being older is that we lose our filters.  What is in our heads can slip out of our mouths.  “Did I say that out loud?!”  Oh, well.  It’s okay because I am old enough to get away with it.

An old saying comes to mind.  (Thank you, Lord for long term memory.)

From Google: the famous villanelle poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, written in 1951. The poem is a passionate plea for people, particularly the aged, to resist death rather than accept it peacefully, and it urges them to "rage, rage against the dying of the light". 

And I remember this very old poem, so I know where I am headed.

Speech: “All the world’s a stage”

By William Shakespeare

(from As You Like It, spoken by Jaques)

                                        All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

Stage 7 here I come! Well, not yet.

Matthew 18:3 says we should be like little children to enter the kingdom.  Thanks, be to God for that.

I love the jokes of old people:

Unfiltered…unafraid…when it’s my birthday, candles cost more than the cake…my train of thought sometimes leaves the track.

Of all the things I have lost, I miss my mind the most. 

I used to talk about seniors…now I am one.

But I am still only 29…on the inside. I am still smiling thanks to the great example of my parents, younger clients, friends who keep me modern, up to date.

And finally let’s not forget my new dentists!

You heard me correctly. I have a team.

Just for extra giggles I added my old photo below.  You can date it by the haircut which was called the Hamill cut named after a famous figure skater. My current haircut has no name.  I just keep it short and low maintenance as I have better things to do with my time than fix my hair.  Now I need more time for the teeth. 

30ish me

BBFN (Bye bye for now.)  I need to get to the store and buy my interdental kit before my next office visit.

Follow up: I went back to the dentist and learned how to use my new dental products. I was grateful for the training and I will try my best to comply so I can keep my teeth for a while longer. But when he kept asking me if I understood each step, I was not sure if he felt I did not get the process or if it was his English. So I finally commented "this is not my first rodeo." He laughed as his English was impeccable. I have at least 2 more visits and we are going to get along fine now that I know he has a good sense of humor.