This foot bridge goes from the residential neighborhood I live in to a shopping plaza on the other side. Below the bridge is Washington St. and you can also see the entrance ramp onto 163. I can easily walk or ride my bike to the Trader Joe’s that’s in the plaza. This TJ’s is much smaller than the one I used to shop at in Rockville, MD, and it’s much busier too. I miss having the bigger selection of items.
My father also likes to shop here. He lives about a block away from us in a seniors apartment building. He usually rides his bike there which makes parking a lot easier. The weather is so beautiful in San Diego that he rides his bike year round.
Because it’s raining hard today, I’d like to share a photo from a sunny day. This palm tree is across the street from our apartment building. It gets trimmed when it starts looking shaggy and thus has a very nicely maintained look. I still haven’t gotten used to the terrain in Southern California, it’s so different from Maryland. I do enjoy being so close to the ocean and am amazed at all the different kinds of palm trees. I will post more pictures in the future.
I had two wisdom teeth pulled out last week and I’ve been thinking about why I waited so long to have this done. Around 30 years ago I had my first wisdom tooth out. It was a relatively uneventful event. I was around 21, and living at home in Elizabeth, NJ. I rode my bike to the dentist, he numbed me up with Novocain, and he pulled it out. It was straightforward, except I remember that I felt uncomfortable with the amount of pressure he put on my jaw. I remember riding my bike home and feeling blood pool in my mouth. And then, as the local anesthetic wore off, I remember the aching, pounding, unrelenting pain that I felt. It went on for more than a week. I didn’t sleep much and I could barely eat anything. It was the summer of ‘79 or ‘80.
I don’t know why I didn’t call the dentists office to report my difficulty. Surely they could have offered assistance. My older brother offered me a bottle of whiskey, but I wouldn’t take it. I just couldn’t imagine that anything could quell the pain I was feeling. I was completely unable to distract myself from this pain. Gradually, over a period of weeks the pain lessoned . The end result of all this was that I wasn’t in a rush to get my other two teeth out. (The fourth wisdom tooth never erupted properly and is sitting high up in my gums at a right angle to my other teeth.) Clearly, I was at a time in my life where I didn’t know how to get the help I needed. And I had difficulty to receive what help was available.
Over the past 30 years many dentists have recommended I get my wisdom teeth out. I always declined. No way was I going to go through that again if I could help it. I figured, as long as they weren’t causing trouble, I was going to keep them. We moved to California in 2007 and I knew that I’d have to find a new dentist. I put it off for a year. I had a sense of foreboding about going and for good reason. After not having any major problems with my teeth for many years, there were all sorts of things that needed attention. Big cavities. Small cavities. Major plaque buildup. And then Dr. S. put a little camera in my mouth next to one of the offending wisdom teeth. The T.V. screen in front of me started broadcasting a live close-up of my tooth.
“See all those dark parts?” Dr. S. said. “That’s decay. You’ll need root canals in both wisdom teeth, they’re going to need a lot of maintenance and even then I’m not sure I can save them.” I definitely was at a power disadvantage. I couldn’t really talk with the camera in my mouth. And there was no turning away from the magnified image of my rotting tooth on the T.V. screen.
“O.K., O.K. I’ll get them out.” I garbled. “Can you please turn off that T.V. now?” It was easy to give in to him. I didn’t put up any fight. And I felt relieved. I didn’t want those rotted teeth. I was ready to let them go. When I went to the oral surgeon for a consultation, he was able to explain to me what likely had happened with the earlier extraction. “It’s called dry socket, and if that happens we have ways to treat the pain.” he said. It was all very reassuring to me, that he could explain my former difficulty and also have a remedy for it.
So I had two wisdom teeth pulled out last week by the oral surgeon. And though my mouth is still sore and a little swollen, there has been relatively little pain. I had no need for prescription pain relief. I’m glad I finally got it done and I wish I hadn’t waited so long. Going through this whole scenario made me think, is there other things in my life that I’m ready to let go of? Things that I’m better off without?
I woke up in the middle of last night and couldn’t go back to sleep. You know that feeling? I turned on the TV and channel surfed for something to watch. Mel Brooks movie, High Anxiety, silenced the voices in my head. I’d like to share a really funny scene with you.
I’ve been wanting to post something about the jet crash that happened on Monday but haven’t been able to get to it until now. Several times a week I drive on 805 by Air Station Miramar, very close to where the jet went down. (The Ice Town skating rink, where my daughter trains, is two miles from Miramar). I’ve thought a lot about the Yoon family, who lost four family members (and three generations) in the crash. Their loss is so big that I don’t know what to say. I’ve also thought about the pilot, who survived. In many ways he’s in the more difficult position and I don’t envy him at all.
In reading about this event I also found reference to another San Diego air crash that happened on September 25, 1978. This one was very dramatic, a mid-air plane crash between a PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) plane and a small Cessna, in the residential neighborhood of North Park in which 144 people died. North Park is very close to the University Heights neighborhood where I live now.
At the time of this crash I was living in Philadelphia. I had just moved there as a transfer student to go the the Philadelphia College of Art. I have no recollection of this event. I guess I was wrapped up in my life as a student, oblivious to things that were outside my orbit. I’m shocked that this one went right past me. It shows me how I identify more strongly with things that touch me more closely.
