A Birthday, A Root Canal, And A Cancelled Trip…

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve blogged here.  In fact, it’s been so long, the site actually made me sign in with my username and password!  But here I am, and the title of this post could easily sum up the past three weeks of my life!

Yes, I had another birthday.  My sixty-fourth, to be exact.  Way back in the days when I listened to the old Beatles song, When I’m Sixty-Four, I didn’t think much about ever being sixty-four, but here I am.  How did that happen?!

Although I hadn’t felt well for several days prior to my “sixty-fourth”, I actually felt pretty good on my birthday.  Early that morning, Ed and I threw our lawn chairs in the back of the van and headed for St. Simon’s Island!  All I really wanted was to spend the day lounging in the shade of my favorite oak tree, while enjoying the view.  God blessed me by giving me a “good day” and Ed made sure I got my birthday wish!

my birthday view

The day was as close to perfect as it could be.  A gentle breeze blew, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and there were no annoying people around.  In fact, there were very few people around at all!  When we got home, that evening, I even found a freshly baked pound cake waiting on my kitchen counter–courtesy of my daughter-in-law, Jennifer.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

Two weeks after my birthday, I celebrated again with family.  Yes, I said, two weeks after.  That’s how long it took our family to coordinate schedules to celebrate mine and daughter-in-law, Jennifer’s, birthdays. (Her birthday is two days before mine, so we celebrate together) 

 

We celebrated our birthdays at the new home of our oldest son.  (This was their first ‘official’ get-together since moving in.)  We all celebrated with bar-b-que spare ribs and all the trimmings, plus cake/ice cream, and lots of gifts.  It was a nice evening, and we all had a big laugh when Jennifer opened one of her gifts–a witches broom!  Being the good sport she is, she immediately hopped on it and galloped around the room 🙂  (There’s a story behind this gift, but I won’t take time to explain today.)

Just a week after my official birthday, and a week before the family celebration, I experienced my first root canal.  Happy sixty-fourth to me!

 

I’d been dealing with this ‘bothersome’ tooth, since my last checkup, six months ago.  I’d mentioned this tooth to my dentist during that visit, but he suggested we leave it alone for as long as possible. When I went back for my regular cleaning,  x-rays finally showed trouble was brewing, and the dentist said it was time for a root canal.  Fun times!  The procedure was not fun, but wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d thought it would be.  In fact, the most painful part was paying the bill!!!

You see, way back in June, on a whim, I signed [Ed and me] up to take a bus trip to Key West during the first week of November.  If you’ve read my blog, you’ll know that visiting Key West is on my bucket list.  In fact, it’s the only thing on my bucket list!

 

So, I’ve faithfully saved money for the past three months, in anticipation of our upcoming trip.  Little did I know I was saving up for a root canal, instead!!!  I was actually planning to mail the large final payment for the trip on the day I found out I had to have the root canal and crown.  Cost of the root canal and crown?  The same price as the trip to Key West!  Long story made short, I tearfully cancelled our trip, three days later.

Yes, I could have put the root canal or the trip on our credit card, or even taken the money out of our savings, but I didn’t feel like either of those things was the right thing to do, at this time, because six birthdays are coming, plus Christmas, and yearly taxes will soon be due, as well.  Also, for some unknown reason, I’d already been having second thoughts about this trip, so I took the ‘unplanned expense’ as a ‘sign’ that maybe I should just cancel.

Perhaps there will be another travel opportunity sometime in the future.  Who knows?  In the meantime, I’ll keep dreaming of Key West–while wearing a new crown on a very old tooth!  Year sixty-four has certainly started out with a bang!