Day 14: WIll It Ever Stop Being Weird?

14 days in and I still can't get over the feeling of having this wire sticking out from my teeth. Or that when I smile and my top lip pulls back over my braces, I feel like I'm essentially plugging in a neon sign that flashes, "Braces! Here!"

Or how about the way food finds refuge everywhere: under the wires; above the wires; and, below the wires. Or that I have to just get used to kind of mawing at my food. If chewing went by legal standards, I've been reduced from "masticated beyond a reasonable doubt" to "masticated by a preponderance of the evidence."

I did, for a blessed moment, get a glimpse of the prize. The picture Joanna took of my bottom jaw last week (see "Two Reasons I Really Need Braces," below) showed how much I needed to straighten out the choppers. Today I saw in my mind's eye how nice it will be when I have the best smile I can have. An internal, emotional calculus of, 'do I really deserve this' computed and I felt a sense of new confidence that I would be putting my best self forward. I'll leave for future wonderings what it will mean to sleep a little more apnea-free, after I get the Somnodent appliance.

256 days to go.