December 19, 2006

Today tested my sense of humor. I had to go to work early. When I got out of bed, I was glad to see that the timer on the oven worked to cook my ham. We had a potluck brunch at work and I was assigned to bring ham. I hate potlucks and they are very popular up here. I love getting together with people but when you make it a potluck, the food becomes the center. I don’t really need that many different kinds of food. I don’t really need that much food. I eat to live. On occasions when food does become something more than sustenance to me, I prefer it to be simple and light, a few appetizers, a light dessert, or a small meal. I don’t like to be overwhelmed with quantity and choices of food. It just reminds me that when people eat for all the wrong reasons, it just contributes to the weight and health problems that we all fight. A treat should be a treat. I like to walk away wanting more.

Well aside from struggling with my potluck demons, I had to be in to work early because I had to leave early for a dentist appointment. A potluck and a dentist appointment in the same day, what could be better? Oh, did I mention it was to have a tooth drilled? I think I gave everyone in in the cubicle area of our office a good laugh yesterday when the dentist’s office called to confirm the appointment. I responded, “oh yes, my dentist appointment. I am looking forward to that.”

So with a great deal of dread, I left work early, dragging my cooler and ham plate out to the truck. It was leaning funny to the front right. I was hoping I had parked in a hole. No such luck, flat tire. I ran back in and called the dentist. They said I didn’t need to reschedule, that they would wait 15 minutes for me. I hung up and started wondering if 15 minutes was enough time to change a tire. It has been a long time since I changed a tire. I ran back to the parking lot and got right to work. I got to the dentists office 16 minutes late.

So sure enough, the technician comes in and explains that they would be working on tooth number 13. I said that sounded like my luck for the day. I added that I didn’t think it was a bad omen. What else could go wrong today. After my face went numb, the dentist came in and began to drill. In a few seconds, the drill broke. I laughed as best I could with cotton in my numbed mouth. We had to move to a different room.

I was feeling really stressed at work all day yesterday and it took me half the day to figure out why. No, it wasn’t dreading my get up early for a potluck and dentist appointment day ahead of me. It was simply the tightness in my abdominal muscles that felt like I was stressed. The tightness was from skiing. It was a physical sensation manifesting itself as an emotional problem, rather than my old emotional problems manifesting themselves as a tightness in my muscles. Funny how it felt exactly the same.