Novocaine

I went to the dentist this morning to get a sealant, whatever that is. (Is that a nice name for a cavity?) Since I didn't know what a sealant was, I didn't know whether they would make my mouth numb or not. I got all settled into the comfy dentist chair and he said, "Alright, let's put that tooth to sleep." Uh, isn't that the term they use when they're going to kill a dog?! So he killed my tooth, used some sort of weirdish apparatus to keep my mouth open as wide as the Columbia and started the procedure.

After it was all over I kept touching the right side of my face. It's the weirdest thing when your fingers feel your face but your face doesn't feel your fingers. I drank some water and half my tongue felt that the water was cold and the other half couldn't even feel the water. Quite a strange sensation. I just took another drink of water and realized, "Hey, my whole tongue can feel the water!" I hadn't even realized I wasn't numb anymore because the un-numbing process was so gradual.

I think life can be like that too. Some things are so incremental that I don't even realize a change until there's an experience to open my eyes. A lot of times I don't realize what I have until it's gone. I know that I didn't appreciate designated non-smoking areas until I went to Chile and those don't exist. Moral of the story? I want to take time out of my week to inventory how I'm doing and what has changed. As Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."