No, it's not Jacob's birthday, and he hasn't been 14 for several years.
But in the upper left you can see the trees I've written about tonight.
They are too beautiful to lose, and we need lots of trees for the climate.
Yesterday it was the
ophthalmologist; today it was the dentist and the driveway, or teeth and trees.
The dentist first:
When I was a kid, back in the
Dark Ages, I had bad teeth, inherited I’m told from my dear father. Whatever, I
had lots of cavities and in my tween years spent a lot of time in the dentist’s
office. The dentist happened to be a family friend—he and his wife/nurse were
Uncle Walt and Aunt Kaffee. Uncle Walt was a taciturn man, but what did a kid
of twelve know about taciturn? I just thought he was disapproving of me, and I
was intimidated. In those days, the dentist’s drill was a clumsy, slow thing
and having all my cavities filled was a long and painful process. (To Uncle
Walt’s credit, most of those gold fillings are still in my head some seventy
years later and to his double credit as an adult I learned to appreciate him.)
Needless to say, I dreaded and hated going to the dentist. I remember making
those trips to the Hyde Park Bank building, though now I can’t tell you if it
was on 51st Street or 53rd. Seems to me, I went alone,
though some thirty years later I always went to the dentist with my children. Add
to all that the truth that anxiety is a feeling I’m all too familiar with, and
it’s easy to understand that I carry with me today some dental phobia. At my
ripe old age, I have finally learned to take excellent care of my teeth
(especially if I don’t eat blueberries) and the hygienist is pleased with me.
Visits are usually not long and always painless—especially since she’s agreed
not to use the hydroelectric thing on my teeth. But I still get anxious, so
having a dental cleaning behind me is a great relief. Of course I have to go back
in three months, but I’ll worry about that tomorrow.
And I’ve had such problems
with dental insurance. I didn’t like Cigna’s coupon books because I pay through
my bank, so I ignored their coupons, sent them checks which they returned, and
then they cancelled me for nonpayment. Me, Pollyanna, the good girl who pays
all bills promptly! Then I took out an Ameritas policy which not only didn’t
save me money, it cost me because it hardly paid anything on my dental bills
and I was left with a huge balance plus monthly insurance payments. It seems
that my dentist was out of network, but then I found he isn’t in any networks
and yet he has a thriving practice. So I cancelled Ameritas (angrily, I admit)
and discovered my Humana Medicare covers dental work—why I didn’t know that all
along is another puzzle. But the final blow came today when I was told that
with any Medicare policy, I have to pay the full amount up front, and they will
reimburse me when the insurance pays. The system is beyond me, but I admit to a
few unladylike phrases today (not in the dentist’s office, however).
On to the trees: For years I’ve
worried about two tall, beautiful oaks that grow at the edge of our driveway, close
to the house. They provide wonderful shade for the house in summer. Over the
years (maybe as much as a hundred) they have broken and pushed up the concrete
of the driveway so navigating it is a real challenge. I knew it would have to
be addressed one day. When an arborist surveyed our trees, he suggested replacing
the concrete with gravel so the tree roots could breathe. A good friend who has
a masonry company offered to pull up the concrete, but the owner of our lawn
service threw in a monkey wrench by asking, “What if the concrete is holding
the trees up and they fall over?” (One would for sure take out my cottage and
me if I were in it.) The arborist said that almost surely wouldn’t happen (no
guarantees), but he wanted to treat the trees first to strengthen them. For a
couple of weeks I’ve been trying to coordinate arborist, mason, and the lawn
service guy. And I’ve been worrying about trees falling over. Was it safe for
me to stay in the cottage while the concrete came up? Finally, it was all set
for four o’clock Thursday; then it changed to 1:45. And then, today, Wednesday,
the concrete crew showed up unexpectedly. Good that it cut down the time for me
to be anxious. All went smoothly, the trees are still standing, and the broken
concrete is gone.
Tomorrow, there is nothing on
my schedule except work at my desk. Nothing, I hope, that I must survive. Color
me thankful that these two days are behind me, my eyes are okay, my teeth are
clean, the broken concrete is gone, and the trees are fine. God is good..
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