WFH: Week 3

~ Live & Learn

Thursday morning.

Work-From-Home Week 3. I think. Days merging together. Shelter-in-Place. Work-in-Place. Work 7 x 17.

I miss my commute. Miss my 30 minutes of quiet time in the car. Miss my 60 minutes of reading time on Metro North.

First conference call of the day. I step away from the call to grab dental floss. Multi-tasking WFH style.

I adjust the wireless headset, and focus back on the call. Tense. I catch myself grinding my teeth. A night (and now day) grinder. He warned me. After each check-up for years. “DK, you should consider a mouth guard. A retainer.” Nope. This Insomniac is not going to roll around in bed at night gagging on plastic.

Back to the call. I lean forward on the desk, and wrap up the call. I summarize the next steps and as I’m about to thank the group, my bridge loosens, and tumbles down my mouth, then my throat.  I gag, eyes water, I spit the bridge out onto my desk. My thank you comes out Thunkkkkk. Stunned by the chain reaction, I disconnect the line.

My tongue, an anteater, desperately searching for teeth, finds none. Cool air, laps the soft gums, fills the void.

Not the COVID-19 disruption that I anticipated.

Next morning. He agrees to take me in, my dentist. He opens his closed office. No assistants, a one-man band. Air suction, water syringes, sputum splashing from my mouth, onto his googles, onto his shield. 1 hour it took, reconstructing the breaks, putting Humpty back together again.

He walks me out to the door.

My tongue passes across the ivory of my front teeth. Smooth.

I bite down. The Bite, in line.

“Thank You Doc. You didn’t need to come in.”

I open the door, walk down the empty hallway leaving him behind me as he shuts down the office.

Thank you Doc. Thank you.

Inspired by: “And so I remind myself: my real challenge right now is a spiritual one. In the midst of an evolving, unprecedented crisis, can I truly practice living moment to moment? Can I take on this strange new life day by day, from a place of tender awareness rather than fear? Can I let go of the ways I thought life would unfold and save my strength to swim with the tide? Can I stay focused on what’s good, right now?” ~ Katrina Kenison, from “The gift of an ordinary day”

51 thoughts on “WFH: Week 3”

  1. Nothing like a fallen bridge drooled out of the mouth to keep your ‘ego’ in check! Thank goodness for generous and committed Dentists, Doctors, Nurses, and front liners at this time. Bless them all. 👏 Love those words from Kenison 🙏🏻💕💚

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  4. That must have been disconcerting! How lucky for you that you could reach your dentist, never mind that he opened up shop for you.
    Fabulous excerpt from Kenison. We have to stay focussed on the good right now.

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  5. brave front line caregivers, each and every one. these people continue to steadily work through all of this, and all circumstances to keep us all going, patching us up, and most intact.
    i have to say that you have most likely won the most horrendous zoom meeting event of the week.

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  6. Awww, so glad there are heroes out there willing to put Humpty together again.
    It’s either WFH week 4 or even 5. Who knows!

    And this 7 × 17, I’m not even working from home. I’m just home, and it feels like 7 × 23. Don’t ask me how.

    Commute! I fantasize about my commutes now. Throw me on a crowded train one more time, just one more time, even if there’s no seat available, and just let me disappear.

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      1. Is there even a word for this feeling? When you’re one of a crowd of people on a train, bus or airplane and you fill that packet of air that is yours to fill. And then you become invisible.

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  7. I, too, resisted the dental guard. what a difference it’s made! No more headaches, neck pain, jaw pain, nothing. I’m a clencher, think muttering “YOU IDIOT” through clenched teeth. if made by your dentist it slips in easily, fits perfectly and you drift to sleep …. seriously you should do it. I wish I had sooner!

    -PS I realized I missed my commute and drives to meetings b/c that’s when I listened to podcasts. Solution? Walking every day (sometimes jogging) to podcasts, 30-45 mins a day. The PERFECT escape from my daily conference call GRIND. Just a thought.

    ~MJ

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      1. DK – I didn’t realize how bad I was (didn’t have any chipped or damaged teeth) until the massage therapist @ Chiro office touched my jaw and I nearly jumped off the table. She quietly said “I think you’re a clencher, see your dentist.” She massaged my jaw joints until the tears and knots stopped then sent me home with an ice pack. i was fitted a few days later, no more headaches/neck aches/etc. AMAZING!!!

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  8. Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
    So apropos .. working from home! Read this … “And so I remind myself: my real challenge right now is a spiritual one. In the midst of an evolving, unprecedented crisis, can I truly practice living moment to moment? Can I take on this strange new life day by day, from a place of tender awareness rather than fear? Can I let go of the ways I thought life would unfold and save my strength to swim with the tide? Can I stay focused on what’s good, right now?” ~ Katrina Kenison, from “The gift of an ordinary day”

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  10. Yes the quote!

    I struggled with a Maryland bridge for 10 years before I finally got an implant on a front tooth I broke out in rough surf years ago. The void in your mouth you describe, I know it well! And I don’t miss that thing popping loose every so often. They say once it’s cemented in, each subsequent reglue is a weaker bond. When I sucked it up to get the implant, they had to do a bone graft. Nobody told me that my bone would start degrading once the root of that tooth was gone. So I’m glad I finally went through all that, all these years later. The things we take for granted! 🤓💞

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  11. That was a close call David. Glad your dentist was there for you! A lot to be grateful for … including that it wasn’t a video call and it didn’t happen 10 minutes earlier!
    That quote is so good for this time. Be well 💛

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  13. I went looking for a truck with husband today, that’s how desperate I was to get out of the house. All the places were closed but one, and one let me use their bathroom because even though the fast food and gas places are open, their bathrooms are closed. It’s strange out there.

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  14. That is the challenge isnt it? I was just at the grocery. I see all the people. They are worried. Nervous. I want to reach out, but we have to keep our distance. So I find myself sauntering along with a stupid smile on my face waiting for someone to look up so I can give them my best “How do you do?”.
    But people these days are so afraid to look up.
    Twice, maybe three times I choked up a little over this distance that has had to be imposed. Its like a vaccuum. I just want to fill it.
    A couple years ago I came into possession of a big Rudolph head. You put it over your head, and its got the big screen eyes you can see through. Suddenly you are a disney character. Ive had so much fun wearing that thing during Christmas; meetings, parties, even wore it to an art show.
    An idea came over me two weeks ago. I should wear it to the grocery, with a little mask! So I posted a pic on FB and asked should I or should I not do this?
    Of course everyone says yes. I could do it, it is my Superpower, doing stuff like that.
    But SHOULD I?
    So I made a dry run to the store. no mask, just trying to get a feel for people.
    Two weeks ago was just like today. Every body is too nervous, too on edge. I dont want to hurt anyones dignity, or mess with their serenity. That’s the challenge.
    But here one day, when things arent so tight, maybe i wear my mask in.
    I’ll just have to stick to a big smile and “How do you do?”

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        1. Its inevitable. I just have to find the right time. I folllowed Davids link and read the whole article. i used the line right in from of the excert Dave provided when I posted this to my blog.
          the line says
          “‘There are no easy answers, no clear path through any of this, other than caution, kindness, and care for ourselves and others.”

          I dont want anyone thinking i’m not taking this crisis serious. but one day there will be a reindeer at the grocery!

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  16. what do you mean with 7×17? 17h per day times 7 days? …..
    The teeth story had me in stitches, but I couldn’t access your blog, unless I did it on the smartphone, I signed in about 25 times (THAT’s dedication for you, guys….) but I still wasn’t allowed ‘in’…. So, this morning (it’s 11am here now) I signed in once more and BINGO, Kiki is once more part of the 10k+ co-‘owners’ of DK’s vault of wisdom, fun, and more!
    I remember one embarassing and utterly funny experience related to teeth (I have many, believe me): I was on a boat cruise on a Swiss lake in good company and biting into my home-made sandwich, a front tooth got stuck in the bread…. So, whenever nobody looked, I showed the gaping hole in a wide grin and when my ‘party’ erupted in wild laughter, I closed my mouth and the other people on the ship looked at us in utter incomprehension. This went on and on and on…. we were all bent over with hysterics and ‘they’ got more and more ‘pxxxed off’. That was a great day trip!
    I also urge you to keep your dentist close to your heart and mouth. THAT’s a guy in gold – coming into his shop to fix your biters for you…. He sounds like our man in France, to whom we have sworn fidelity for as long as we can drive …. and who promised us to reserve us half a day if we announce ourselves with a few months in advance! 😉

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    1. 7 days, 17 hours per day.
      Wow, this log in / sign in problem on wordpress is a real challenge. I have the same issue when I try to comment on other blogs. I need to find an answer.
      And loved our story. Still laughing!

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  17. Somehow this post slipped past me until now, DK. So sorry you had this trouble, but very glad that your dentist was able and willing to accommodate you. As a longtime grinder myself, I would highly encourage you to reconsider the mouth guards. Made a big difference for me…

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  18. Help! I can imagine that happening, David. I am hoping that nothing untoward happens (within my mouth) over the following months. I really don’t want to be sitting in a dentist’s chair for some time.
    I do have a ‘clean’ due in July. However, if they don’t postpone it, I will….
    So happy for you. What a great dentist he must be…
    Happy chewing! 🙂
    xoxoxo

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