Red, White and Blue

Today is Independence Day in the United States.  The celebration of the birth of our nation.  Our declaring that we are a free and sovereign nation.  Together, in one very big loud voice we declared that we were going to take no more.  We were bold and wrote a letter declaring that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
I love my country, don't get me wrong.  There are just some things about my country that we are still working to get right.  We still haven't perfected that whole unalienable rights and life, liberty and pursuit or remember that those are only among our unalienable rights, not our only inalienable rights.  We also tend to forget that our Declaration of Independence is not our governing document.  That would be the Constitution of the United States.  Two separate documents.  Two separate functions.  Although it saddens me that our Constitution sometimes forgets the principles on which we based our independence.

What does this day mean to most people?  Wearing a flag on their chest, putting up little rows of flags along the edge of their yard, barbecue, beer and fireworks (please don't mix those last two).  People play patriotic music and watch movies that are reminiscent of "Go go USA."  My middle child will be watching Independence Day, the Will Smith movie with aliens.) No.  The other Will Smith movie with aliens.  No no.  The Will Smith movie with aliens where he punches one's lights out.  Yep.  That one.)  I bought it for her this past year when she was frustrated that no network was playing it on July fourth.  We are grilling burgers after I get home from work (yep, I get to work today).  We may or may not go watch some fireworks.  Most likely we will  sit at home wishing that our neighbors would remember that fireworks have been banned this year because of the drought (only official fireworks are permitted).  And because it is my family and we are weird that way we will have an open discussion on what it means to have freedom.  I'm always interested in my children's viewpoints.  They are quite refreshing and enlightening.

So it is Independence Day.  The Fourth of July.  The President of the United States is alive (despite the Fox Twitter feed last night that was hacked into).  Our service members are working hard to assure our freedom (and the freedom of other people).  The sky is blue (at least for some of us).  The world is really a good place to be.  So go out and pursue a little happiness today.  (And if you must go into a retail business, be kind to those who are working so you can enjoy your day off.)

Dental pain sucks

Just in case no one knew this little fact I wanted to be very clear that there is no pain in the world as horrible as dental pain. I would go through childbirth again to avoid dental pain even though you end up with a baby at the end that has to be cared for and fed and diapered and taught not to stick pencils up its nose. Quite a few years ago I had some dental pain that ended up in three root canals with crowns. The teeth that held the crowns were not stable and all three ended up breaking out. Now I am faced with the trauma of having to go in and have those three teeth extracted and having bridges built. Every time I go into the dentist they lie and tell me that the pain will go away soon and that it is "almost over." Last week when I had the temporary bridge created I was told that this appointment would be easy. To which I replied, "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it does." I really hate dentists.

Don't get me wrong, I think I would have a great time at TGIFridays with my dentist or I could see myself having a dandy time knitting with her (if she did knit) or just going shopping for shoes, but I really don't like her as a dentist. I don't like her rooting around in my mouth and sticking me with needles (yet another phobia of mine thanks to a sucky childhood filled with doctors, needles and dentists). I even like the receptionist with whom I know I would have a good time with because she went to DragonCon this year and likes Neil Gaiman. I even like the dental assistant who has a very pleasant voice and pretty eyes. She's gentle and kind, but I don't want any of them poking around in my mouth.

The worst part of all of this is that I am in pain! And when I am in pain I don't want to knit, I don't want to write and I certainly don't want to cook because eating hurts too. I'm tired of "eating" pudding, soup, and things one sucks out of a straw. I have story ideas that float through my head, but just sitting down to formulate them hurts and so I make little notes that make no sense the next day. What? I had a story idea about an evil widowed stepmother who is marrying a hotel concierge and the quiet unnoticed stepdaughter falls in love with the new concierge that the EWS refers to as Charles Two? I'm not sure where I was going with that. And anything that requires more than stockinette stitch is just a bit too mind-taxing at the moment.

Can someone zip me to the future, have all my teeth fixed while I'm in some sort of weird unconsciousness and I wake up with a full set of functioning teeth that aren't killing me and no gum pain either? My family would appreciate it greatly.