An Excellent Reminder About Love
February 2025 Issue
Inspirations for Better Living
Love comes to mind when I hear the word February. A romantic dinner with my husband at George’s Bistro and then fancy chocolates from Coco Dolce at home. Flowers would be nice, but we have cats. That feline curiosity problem can end in a broken vase, water everywhere, and eventually petal pieces mingled inside cat puke. I don’t love that.
Another thing I don’t love, no matter what month it is, is going to the dentist. Regular life happens in February, too. Mom doesn’t love a trip to the dentist either. I knew she must be in a significant amount of pain, or she would never have mentioned it to me. As we sink deeper into the swapping of roles phase of life, I become more mother-like and Mom becomes more child-like.
The day of her dentist appointment, I tell her I’m a little early because Bubba, the orange tabby, got me up ahead of schedule. Harmless little lies are necessary sometimes. The truth is that she dawdles more when we’re going somewhere she doesn’t want to go. I do my respectful best to be on time for appointments, so I need to give her plenty of time to dilly dally. She uses every bit of it, too.
On the way to the dentist, Mom confides that she’s extremely nervous. “I’m afraid I have that gum disease. The one where the only thing they can do is remove all your teeth and you have to get dentures.”
I give her a quick glance to see if she’s serious. She is. “Do you mean gingivitis?”
“Yes, that’s what I’m talking about.”
“Have your gums been bleeding?”
“No, but they seem darker to me than they used to be.”
“Well, it could be the start of gingivitis. Usually there’s bleeding with gum disease. I’d think there would be a lot of bleeding if it were bad enough to have all your teeth removed. I really don’t think you need to worry about that.”
This is what she does now. She bypasses logic and goes straight to the worst possible, most negative scenario she can imagine.
