i must say that i never feel so good about myself as i do when leaving the dentist office. i might be failing in every other area of my life (i.e. teaching, neighboring, wifery, etc.), but nothing--absolutely nothing--will keep me from brushing my teeth.

today, for example, i went to a new dentist. i was embarrassed at the amount of time that i had allowed to elapse since my last visit to any dental office and admitted this openly to the dental hygienist. (i felt good about this move. i thought--in life so also in the dentist chair--honesty was sure to be the best policy.) to my surprise though, both the hygienist and the dentist were quite pleased with what they saw, attributing it to my wonderful "home care," as they called it (i love the esoteric language of any particular field of study).

so i walked out of dr. millet's office with my head held high knowing that even if dinner tonight were a disaster, even if others would parent their shi tzu better than me this evening, i had accomplished something good: strong oral hygiene.