Triumph!

It's September now!!!

The statement is obvious, I suppose, so I should clarify that the exclamation points are because September is my birth month.

And in honor of my birth month, I am going to try to blog every day again. I will warn you, however, that it's highly likely that "my birth month," as it's defined in my head, probably peters out very shortly after my actual birthday.

Then, of course, I will be leaving town for a week, so that will complicate things, won't it?

Anyway, one of the things I thought I would share, as I approach a number that feels more significant than some (like the last 2, for instance), is an observation I made while on a road trip last month.

I was driving along, possibly cleaning my teeth, when I suddenly realized that my gums are a whole new color than they used to be. That is to say, they are finally the pale pinkish, healthy color they're supposed to be. This is astounding to me.

Remember back in January, when I blogged about a list of potential resolutions someone suggested that weren't very hard but could actually make your life a lot better?

Flossing was at the top of that list. And I wanted to do it. But I usually just assume that I will fail at that sort of thing.

But in June when I was at the dentist, my hygienist actually said my gums looked good. That surprised me, but I was so distracted by my first cavity that I didn't really check it out.

So there I am, driving up the highway in Illinois, and I suddenly noticed she was right. My gums look great! I must be flossing more than I realized.

I think the trick was trying hard for long enough to get my mouth used to the feeling of being flossed, so that not being flossed feels wrong, like something that needs to be fixed. (This is quite possibly the secret to any long-term keeping clean project. I wouldn't know.)

Anyway, as I approach this particular birthday, it feels like a minor triumph to know that I've finally overcome (at least temporarily) my life-long unhealthy gums problem.

Did any of you really need to know that? I suppose not. But Happy Birth Month to Me!