I'd Like To Buy A Molar...

Dear Mom,

I've been having my first real dental work in years over the last month. I had a very tender molar and knew something was up so I called the first available dentist and got an appointment. Sure enough, the stupid thing was cracked in several places, just waiting to crumble on me. I had it ground down, a temporary crown put on and waited 3 weeks for the permanent crown. Total price tag? !Eight*Hundred*Eleven*Dollars! If I had needed a build-up filling it would have cost $187 more. During the interim between the diagnosis and installment of the temporary, I shopped for price all over the place and my dentist's price was competitive.

I clean houses. When I think about the relative value of an item, my frame of reference is very basic. Eight hundred dollars is a lot of toilets.

I went to the dentist yesterday and had the permanent crown put on. It's my first one and I'm thrilled, it feels like a real tooth. Just the tiniest bit tender but no pain and I didn't need to be numbed up, they just lifted the old one off and cemented the new one on. He took a look at the other one that's tender and said he could see just by eyeballing it there are two cavities and a crack in it. I sort of suspected that, it felt just like the other one before it blew. If I don't need a root canal, I'll have the other one crowned in a heartbeat, no whining this time. They said I did a superb job of keeping the temporary crown clean so I take it my dental hygiene is adequate. I have an appointment for a complete exam next week so he'll tell me all the extensive work I really need done, I'm sure. He said we can set up a 'dental plan' for the future. Right.

I think dentistry is a real racket, but it's one where we have no choice, so there you go. Crap. I'm real motivated to take good care of my teeth anyway, and no more almonds! My days as a "power chewer" are pretty much over.

I Love You,

Lisa

Value of Time

Dear Mom,

My favorite line when referring to the value of time is; "There's no luggage rack on a hearse".

Time is all we have that's truly ours. We were born with it and we have an unspecified amount of it until we don't anymore. No amount of money can buy it, but we can lose it by doing what we hate and people can steal it by lying to us or using us. We have to maximize the time we spend doing what we like (and hopefully find a way to get paid for it.) Choosing how to spend time, and giving time to people I care about is a pleasure and a privilege.

I don't have to be slapped hard to stop giving, all it takes is the expectation that the time given is someone's by right and that makes me start backing away so that person can get on their own feet. If they follow and demand more, it's time to run away.

I hope you don't think less of me, but I give nothing to charities. Organized charities, that is, with bureaucracies, staffs and budgets. I think that the 'business' of charity is just that, business-not charity, and I will not be blackmailed into giving to people who spend a lifetime doing as they damn well please and then whining about it. Besides, most of the people who administer the "charity" do so either for a generous salary, political gain, public recognition, socializing or all of the above.

I'm in decent shape only because I live a disciplined life. I would be in a hospital bed within weeks if I didn't behave, and then they'd finish me off by feeding me wheat, corn, milk and nightshade vegetables. When I see people collecting for charity I'm tempted to ask them how much they think anyone ever rounded up for the Lisa Fund.

It's my time, I'll try to use it wisely.

I love you,

Lisa