Words of Wisdom

Kids can do some stupid things.

You know what I mean. There comes a time (or in most cases, several times) during the early concrete operational stage of cognitive development when one’s sketchy sense of judgment slips and they end up either getting hurt or hurting someone else. Dumb choices are a human rite of passage.

About 25 or so years ago, back when I walked those hallowed halls of Beebe Elementary School, I experienced one of these lapses in judgment. I was sleeping over at my friend Dustin’s house when we got the wild idea sometime in the middle of the night to go out and ride bicycles up and down his street. This was quite a treat for me because Dustin lived in town, where they actually had paved roads, which were much faster and less treacherous than the gravel roads around my home. So, for whatever reason, the two of us rode up and down his street in the middle of the night without a care in the world…until the unthinkable happened.

As I biked down the dimly lit street, I didn’t notice the small pickup truck parked on the side of the road. I didn’t see the rapidly approaching tailgate that was right at face level. No, I was too busy chatting away about whatever 8 year old boys talk about and was therefore unconcerned with my surroundings.

I don’t know what I thought when I hit the truck face first, nor am I aware of the words that were spoken. But, when I finally realized what had happened, there was blood running down my chin and my mouth hurt something terrible. We made our way back to his house where his parents called my parents to take me to the emergency room. I seem to remember someone mentioning the word “stitches” and, being petrified with fear, I answered with “No, all I need is a band-aid!”

But, they were right. I did need stitches, two of them in my bottom lip where my front teeth had bitten through. In addition to that, I chipped a few teeth that I also had to have fixed in one of the only dental procedures I’ve ever had to endure.

So, you are probably wondering what the reason for this story is. You may be contemplating why I would regale you with tales of ER visits from more than 2 decades ago. Well, around a month ago, I looked in the mirror and noticed a large chip in one of my top front teeth. At first I was a bit shocked, for I knew that I hadn’t chipped a tooth recently, but then I realized this was one of the filling from those many years ago. At some time, the filling had popped out and disappeared, maybe even while I was sleeping one night. Today, I will be returning to the dentist, which is definitely not my idea of a good time, to have my front tooth fixed again. But, hey, if it lasts another 25 years I can’t complain too much.