(2/2/22) Wednesday Implant surgery this afternoon. Bone graft to fill in where tooth extracted was on 9/28. The graft must have worked well because it felt like there was definitely something tough to drill into. Now to wait for bone to fuse with implant. Then they put on a crown. No pain at all afterward. No need for stitches. This is the first lower tooth. No shots in the roof of the mouth. Those make my eyes water.
(2/4/22) Friday Today I learned there are TWO little Red Tails. And they don't seem to enjoy sharing. . .
There were only 5 cousins on my mother's side of the family. We were all about the same age, lived within a 2 mile radius of our grandparents, and so were fairly close as kids. There are only two of us left. The other one lives in Florida and has always been a loner. She and I never tried to keep in touch with the others. There are only 2 in the next generation—a boy and a girl. The girl sent me a Christmas card in 2019. Not sure what brought that on. I was 18 when she was born, and by then we had all started going separate ways. I can only remember seeing her twice, as a child. I returned a couple of Christmas cards, partly because I kept picturing her as a young girl trying to do the traditional thing. Something I was never very good at. A few days ago I got a 2 page letter from her apologizing for not sending me a Christmas card this year. She has a very pleasant, rather youthful, way of writing, and ended with, "I would love it if you called sometime. I don't know enough about my family." She didn't give me a phone number or an email. Is she serious? I have a hard time lately telling when people really mean things, or are just being polite. Not sure which I hate worse, talking on the phone or writing letters. It's partly why I started thinking about my handwriting. I tried to print a little note in ink on the last card, and it looked like someone who might be losing their marbles. I will write her a short note with my email address. Which would look worse–illegible printing, or 3rd grade pencil? I'm leaning toward pencil this time.
I had similar experience with niece, until she caught up some with family. She still says hi or happy something or other on major hollidays, but communication is dying off. Had lots of cousins but no communication. My fault maybe, something of a loner my self. Sometime communication is good, depending how one views it; some time not too productive. But somewhat interesting subject matter.
By the way, one of those cousins developed a crush (I mean really serious) on Peter O'Toole in high school, after seeing Lawrence of Arabia. She decided she wanted to become an actress, joined Thespians, and had the lead role in her senior class play. She ended up a very successful salesperson for IBM. I think my mother's whole family were introverts. And they never got along. I think all us cousins were introverts too. Even the actress. The whole thing is too confusing to me.
I have a cousin on the other side of the family that does that. Don't you think it seems a little impersonal? I don't know. She even types out just Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This will probably be the only letter I'll ever send her, so I'll write it. Writing a whole string of different words in a row is different from writing one word over and over. It still looks messy. I'm beginning to think it's all in your mind. This is silly.
The gray squirrels seem to get along and the birds get along. But the red squirrels don't. I finally fixed up the feeder so the birds can get in and the gray squirrels can't. But I can't stop the red tailed ones. They are a little smaller. I'm trying one last idea right now. The red ones haven't shown up yet.
I wouldn't say it's impersonal though. It could be though if intentional I don't care attitude. There are so many ways to make a type written note/letter personal, you know, with emojis, graphics, photos, etc.
It's done! In ink! I included a copy of the only picture I have of the 5 of us together. Not very clear. She probably has it already.
Another person appearing unexpectedly from the past... In September I got an email from my very first friend. Also still living in Ohio. Last time we communicated was over 50 years ago. We were both 4, going on 5, when his family moved in next door. Spent several summers inventing things to do around the railroad track and field behind our houses, because we weren't allowed to cross the highway. He was 4 months younger and just missed the cut off to start school when I did. Gradually drifted apart by junior high. A simple, "Hi neighbor. Hope you are retired and enjoying it. Catch up." We exchanged only 2 or 3 emails, sharing what happened to our parents, etc. Not much of a response so I stopped. In January I got a Happy New Year email, ending with "Keep in touch." Similar thing happened. I guess keep in touch means like sending a Christmas card? This must have been a spur of the moment thing due to Covid lockdown boredom. Or is there something in the water in Ohio?