At the end of last year, December 30th to be exact, I fell on my bike. That sounds innocent enough, huh? It’s bound to happen and it certainly wasn’t the first time I fell while riding my bike. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a simple fall.

That morning, I hopped on my bike to head to work. It was a chilly morning, similar to the other days, with a little frost on the car windows. I coasted down the hill from my apartment building, slowing down to make my first left turn. The second I started to turn my bike, it slipped out from under me; the road was iced over. The next thing I remember is getting up off of the ground. Immediately I knew something was not right. I wasn’t in pain but my tongue found its way over my front teeth and pieces were missing. Yikes! I didn’t know what to do. I picked up my bike and starting walking back up the hill to my apartment building.

I got inside, woke up my boyfriend and we examined my teeth. Sure enough, they were cracked. My front teeth! One tooth was completely cracked in half, one had the side chipped off, and another had a little chip at the bottom. I honestly didn’t know what to do. My boyfriend thought we should go out and try to collect the pieces off the ground. So we spent some time searching the road in the early hours of the morning, using our phones as flashlights. We managed to find them all!

After that adventure, my boyfriend went online to search for a dentist that was open. Most were closed for the new year holiday but we managed to find one that was open. They had a full schedule but graciously fit me in. The dentist fixed me right up with temporary fillings to make my teeth look like teeth again.

Unfortunately, the saga didn’t end there. The fillings were just temporary after all! I couldn’t use my front teeth at all, due to pain as well as dentist’s orders. Eventually I was to get crowns for all the broken teeth. The dentist warned that I might need a root canal for the one that broke in half but only time would tell.

Well, time told. After about two weeks, my tooth started to change colors and become incredibly sensitive. At my next dentist appointment, I had a surprise root canal instead of the initial crown prep. After the root canal, I had two rounds of internal bleaching on the tooth to restore it to it’s original color. Then, crown prep!

Last week I went in for the crown prep. The dentist made molds of my teeth, shaved them down, and fitted me with a temporary crown and temporary veneers. My teeth are feeling much better but I’m still eating everything with a knife and fork.

Today (!!) I go to the dentist and get my permanent “teeth”. I’m so excited for this whole process to be over with but I’m mostly excited about taking a big ol’ bite into a sandwich, when everything is said and done. The procedures have all been very pleasant, thank god for anesthesia.

I’ve always wanted to share more things about myself on this blog but I never really know how to approach it without it seeming forced or appropriate. I’ve always had an incredibly hard time talking about myself. I’m just not that interesting, you know? I go to work, I go to the gym, I take walks, sometimes I hang out with friends, I watch a lot of Netflix, and I write letters. That’s me! Well, of course there is more to it than that, but how do you bring it up? I’ve never figured it out. So, I thought, why not dedicate an entire post to me. Things that I’m thinking about or doing. It’s going to be random.

Now that it is summer is long gone, I feel like I’m turning back into a person. Although I grew up in the desert of Las Vegas, I’ve never been a fan of summer. I think I hate summer more than most because of Las Vegas. I can’t function in the heat, especially if there isn’t an escape from it. In Las Vegas, we had A/C. In Portland, we don’t. My apartment was, at minimum, a stifling 90 degrees all summer long. I looked forward to going to work every day because it was an escape from the heat. When I came home from work, I would sit on the couch with 3 fans pointed at me and didn’t move until I had to go to bed. I couldn’t get anything done! My energy was drained and my creativity went with it.

I’m writing letters and making things again, and I have all sorts of thoughts and ideas of things I want to be doing. I’m leaving my house more and the idea of taking a long bike ride doesn’t make me want to cry. It’s only going to get better! I’m pretty sure I need to bite the bullet and invest in an A/C for next summer. I can’t imagine feeling like this again.