Snaggletooth
If Only I Had a Camera
This morning I smiled into the mirror when I brushed my teeth and wondered about straightening my crooked left front tooth. I stare at myself from all angles, placing a finger over the tooth that sticks out, and try to imagine what I would look like if I looked normal, and whether this would be a good thing. When I was young the crookedness was slight, but by now the crooked tooth is at a right angle to its mate. I imagine my more reserved, proper front tooth trying to disassociate itself from its conspicuous sibling, by staring straight ahead, its gaze never faltering. In my most self-conscious moments, I feel I am composed entirely of my crooked front tooth, that this is the all of me, a five foot seven inch renegade incisor. On my more fanciful days, I believe I could walk down the middle of a wintry street smiling, and all the snow to my left would pile up neatly on the curb. Me, the human snowplow. Most of the time I don’t think about it at all, and if I do, it remains my little oddity, the quirky little detail that reminds me who I am, and who I am not.
I love this, Abby. Do I start every comment that way? Why yes, I believe I do. So, one of the amazing benefits of reading you, is that it reminds me to pay attention more. To give weight to my ruminations, and offer my thanks and appreciate the laughter that usually follows when I'm conscious of them. I sometimes forget to capture and write about what entertains me about me! And when I read you, it's a nudge to keep track of my thoughts, without getting mired in them. I love your face, your smile, you. No need to change a thing. Braces on my teeth as a kid were probably an enormous waste of time and money. My bottom fronts are a crooked mess. I stopped caring about it a long time ago. I'm just grateful I have teeth! xoxo
It’s a shame that so many kids get braces these days. The uniformity of perfect teeth is boring.