Catching Idle Butterflies

Divine Ponderances

One of the funniest things I heard from a politician is what Bob Dole said after discovering he lost the presidential election.

A reporter asked him how he reacted to the loss.

"I slept like a baby," he said. "I woke up every two hours crying."

I can sympathize, not with Dole so much, but with the baby. I'm here at my computer typing this entry at 3:45am because I've been waking up every two hours wanting to cry.

Because of an accident of genetics, I have very good teeth. I shouldn't, because I don't take good care of them. I've been to a dentist once in my life, and that was 16 years ago. I don't go, because, well, no pain, no problem. All my teeth are where they should be, no discoloration, and it's a rare thing to get a toothache. Even when I do, it lasts less than a day and is more of an annoyance than a problem. After reading all PastVoices has gone through and will continue to go through with her teeth, I count myself blessed indeed.

As a consequence of not going to the dentist, though, I still have my wisdom teeth. The top two pushed through toward the back of my mouth in my early 20s. It worked out great, because they didn't move any of my other teeth. The only problem is I have to open my jaw pretty wide in order to brush them.

The left bottom one never came in, and the right one came in only half way. My mouth is big enough, there's room to spare.

I thought being 37, my teething days were over. No such luck. Starting about 10pm last night, my bottom right wisdom tooth has decided it needed air and is now pushing up once again. My gums are swollen and it hurts enough even a thick rubbing of Orajel is making little difference.

Right now I'm hoping the Tylenol will kick in soon, otherwise I'm raiding ccstring's blog and stealing all his Advil.

There is an upside to this though. Having a sore jaw will decrease significantly my snacking as well as eating seconds and thirds during regular meals. I could always afford to lose a few pounds . Hmm. Perhaps I should just instead. Smiling big hurts .

As I go through life, I discover things that only God can answer. For me in the wee hours in the morning as the right side of my face throbs, I can't help but wonder for what reason He gave us wisdom teeth. I mean, it's not as though we need them!

That will be one of my questions when I finally meet Him.

The other will be, "Is there really a Loch Ness Monster?"

What sort of quandries would you like God to answer when given the chance?