Gratefulness ~ nothing corny about it

So, at first, I wallowed in my infected tooth. Why me? I am a good brusher/flosser (although my hygienist would say "aggressive" rather than "good" - a problem in itself). Why now, with Christmas right around the corner? Why now, when I'm so close to finishing my third book? Blah, blah, blah. Whine, whine, wine - see how easily I want to slip back into my old coping skills?

My dentist called me right back at 9 pm on Friday. "Yes," she said. "You can take your unused antibiotics. It's what I would have prescribed." She later wondered, who has an unused 850 mg Amoxicillin prescription lying around for their next big infection event? Well, this girl does! My negative COVID episode, last summer, resulted in the doctor giving me a script for a potential sinus infection. I stashed it when I realized it was just a case of paranoid hypochondria - treatable with mantras and common sense.

Anyway, back to my current dilemma.

So there was pain, in amounts that made me want to find every person who had ever experienced a toothache and give them $100. And swelling. And fever and chills. I was a mess. I hid in my room, holding a bag of frozen organic corn to my face and counting the minutes between painkillers, obsessing about what the outcome would be - root canal or extraction? Poor, poor, pitiful me.

It was a full forty-eight hours before I realized I was the luckiest woman in the world.

• I can afford to see the dentist of my choice. I am not waiting in line at a clinic while in total distress. My dentist is amazing and caring.

• It is nothing more serious. I was able to begin taking medication before a bad tooth became a sepsis situation.

• I am not homeless. My house is warm and inviting. There is ORGANIC corn in my freezer, for heaven's sake!

• I am loved. My family and friends check in on me multiple times during the day.

• I can finish up my Christmas odds and ends online - suddenly I am even thankful for Amazon.

• Although I've always considered myself a grateful person, I have made gratefulness a part of my daily spiritual practice (just in the nick of time, I'd say).

I am of the strong belief that we are spiritual beings taking a spin on this planet in our borrowed human bodies. Thank you for this loaner body, with all its miracles (right now as I write this, billions of microscopic white blood cells are forming an attack on the infection in my tooth and in my gland. You go with your bad-ass selves!).

What's the plan moving forward? Trust that all will be well - a new concept in my very busy, human, monkey mind. My competent doctors will figure out the best course of action. My only job is to keep the negativity out of my way, the bag of corn on my jaw, and the gratefulness in my heart. ~ Namaste and Merry Christmas!