Just one week to go

Here I am, one week away from getting wired. I'm not sure if I am more anxious/stressed about that, or turning 30 in three days. Both have their good and bad points. Turning thirty really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but somewhere in the back of my head is a wee voice screeching "OLD HAG!" at me. I think its because of the way society treats aging women. Beauty is all about youth when it comes to marketing. I guess having the braces on will young-ify my appearance a bit but I will still have the crinkles in the corners of my eyes when I smile and that bone-tired exhaustion from a stressful workday on my face from time to time. Never had either of those when I had braces as a teenager!

I have been running my tongue along the front of my teeth a lot the past few days. On days when my brackets are digging into my cheeks and there is constantly food-bits stuck in unreachable places (for my tongue) I hope I remember how nice it feels to have lovely smooth teeth. I am also worried that I will hate my adult smile with braces on them. I've read a lot from people who are terribly self conscious of what others think of how they look in braces. Most of my friends and coworkers know about the journey I am taking with my teeth and jaw and are very supportive, but I keep wondering about that girl in the mirror. She is brutally critical and sometimes I just don't like her. Bad hair days, breakouts (nope, haven't seemed to outgrow those yet), dark circles and the like mock her and make her scowl back at me. I predict the first couple days I will be smiling/grimacing at my reflection in the mirror or avoiding it altogether.

I hope I don't have too much pain with teeth moving and I hope the insides of my cheeks don't get sliced up like they did the last time I wore braces either. I will be carrying orthodontic wax everywhere and will keep a healthy supply of Advil at hand… I don't do pain well! Until next Thursday however, I have a stagette party to attend, a birthday to have, and loads of work (at home and at the office) to keep me busy. It feels like I have been waiting for September 2nd to come forever, and now that its so close I'm hoping this next week flies by!