Author: sssmahh303

Burial Plot

by sssmahh303, posted in Taking Care of Business

Mary Ann

I have been working on an estate notebook for my family to help with my affairs once I leave the planet.  It is done for the most part but needs some final polishing.  It feels good to take charge of something that is rather uncontrollable.  It is a bittersweet experience!  I plan to share various aspects of the estate notebook in forthcoming blogs.

In preparation for the burial section, I explored plots, headstones, and actual burial plans.  I always planned to be cremated and even considered a green burial. However, where I would be buried was the first step in this process. 

Around the corner from my house is a Quaker cemetery.  It is surrounded by hedgerows of trees and bushes and just a stone’s throw from the Quaker Meeting House.  I pass by it several times a week.  It has been calling to me for the last few years.  I have been a bit of a gypsy living in many parts of the country never quite finding a permanent home until I retired in PA near my brother.  I feel at home now, so this is a good place for my final resting place.  

The Quaker cemetery is in the country and is a rather humble graveyard.  I felt that it would be a good place to be buried.  I would be surrounded by peaceful people, many of whom are Quakers.  The beautiful location in the country welcomes wild animals and random wildflowers grow throughout.   I would like deer or foxes walking across my grave and birds fluttering above me.  

I finally stopped while I drove by one day to find the contact information.  I called to set up an appointment to view the grounds. I later met an older gentleman who explained how it worked in a Quaker cemetery.  You buy a cremation plot (there are regular plots available for caskets) where two individuals can be buried. You don’t own a particular spot just the next available plot when you pass.   For regular burials, the headstones are only 18 inches high, and for cremations headstones are flat on the ground and only your name, birth and death dates are inscribed.  Everything is simple.  You can bring flowers, but you can’t plant them.  I was fine with all of this.  

I sent in the fee, which was very reasonable, another surprise, and was given a certificate that is in the estate notebook.  I was given information about the headstone.  This company knew exactly what the Quaker cemetery required of the stone.  Again, it was a reasonable fee for it, and I was given a rendering of headstone to approve the spelling, etc.  With my luck with my name, I wanted to make sure it was exactly as I wanted.  The company will work with the cemetery and set the headstone for another small fee.  

So, the first few steps are now in place for my final resting place.  Stay tuned for my adventure to the crematory.  A new company has just opened a satellite office right down the road from me.  

Theo of Golden

by sssmahh303, posted in Reviews

Mary Ann

I have several good friends that send book recommendations to me.  I share recommendations with them as well.  By far these are the very best books.  In recent weeks I have had those people contact me about Theo of Golden by Allen Levi.  A new friend recommended it saying it was one of her favorite books and had reread it a few times already – that is quite a book!

Since I have been exploring Winter, Theo of Golden came at the right time.  It is a story of Winter and a great example of how to live it.  When the story begins, an elderly gentleman, Theo, comes to fictional Golden, Georgia to live for a year or so.  He had business to do in the town.  While he was getting coffee, he found a wall of pencil sketches of the town’s people.  He becomes enchanted by the renderings and befriends the artist.  Theo decides to purchase them and gift them to the featured individual.  The story unfolds from there.  

Each of the people had a story, and for most, they were willing to share them with Theo.  The wisdom he earned from living many years helped to forge many new friendships.  This quiet, gentle man was becoming a part of the community and making a difference in the lives of the people of Golden. 

The story weaves many loose threads into a tapestry of the town ‘s and Theo’s life.  The threads may seem unconnected but eventually it all comes together in the end.  As the reader, you can explore Winter as Theo lives it.  You witness his kindness and generosity that change people’s lives.  

Theo of Golden is Allen Levi’s first book.  He self-published.  The author is a gift writer, and I hope he will continue writing and sharing his gifts with the world.  He has such insight into the human condition showing all of us how small acts of kindness can make a difference in the world.  What an example!

I always hope for a movie or an episodic TV series to follow a great book so I can see the words come to life on the big or small screen.  At this moment, there are no plans for this to happen.  Come on Hollywood – Reese, Apple, Netflix – this is too good of a story not to tell.   The word is quickly spreading about this little gem.  The story needs a visual platform to share its message – a message that the world needs now more than ever.

The Big Bad Wolf

by sssmahh303, posted in Friends and Family

Mary Ann

At this spooky time of year with Halloween just around the corner, I was trying to find a family Halloween tale.  Of course, we have a Timmy story where I was the victim, and it scared me to death.

When I was young, I feared wolves.  I guess it was one too many fairytales. You know, Little Red Riding Hood kind of genre.  Timmy knew this and took every opportunity to scare me about them.  So, one Halloween Timmy took my mother’s wig and fur coat.  We had a rubber wolf mask that may be the root of my fears, so Timmy included the mask as part of his makeshift wolf costume.  He dressed up and hid under my bed. 

Night came.  I innocently went to my bedroom and crawled under the covers turning off the light as I snuggled in. The room was dark and out from under the bed came this creature, all brown, all hairy, and loudly growling!  There was a wolf in my bedroom, and it looked like it was going to eat me for its dinner.  I was shaking and screaming.  Nightmares were coming true!  And then the giggles began.  It wasn’t a wolf.  It was Timmy!   

Our parents came running and they too had to laugh at the costume – it was clever!  It is now funny, but that night I was terrified.  I was reassured that there were no wolves under my bed.  I can’t remember if Timmy got in trouble, but he was in trouble all the time anyway.  Timmy does not remember this incident at all.  I, however, have never forgotten that the big, bad wolf was under my bed.  For a long time, I hesitated as I walked into a dark room, and I always looked under my bed before going to sleep. I sort of still do….

Winter

by sssmahh303, posted in Wellness

Mary Ann

If you divide your life up into seasons, you are in the winter of your life after the age of 70.  Each season has its bearuty and its own challenges.  Who wants to go through puberty again or menopause?  Once is enough!  However, if you live long enough, you will pass through all the seasons and will arrive in Winter where you will have lived more years than you will live in the future. It is a rather jarring fact.  

Erik Erikson developed a psychosocial theory in the late 20th century that identified eight stages that a healthy individual passes through from infancy to late adulthood (65 years until death).  In each stage there are two conflcting traits that can be developed such as trust vs. mistrust in infancy or generativity vs. stagnation in middle age.  Living through the conflict is what helps individual develop competency, and a virtue is gained from the experience. 

When you are in the Winter of your life, you are in the final stage of integrity vs. despair.  It is a time when individual reflect on their lives with a sense of acceptance and fulfillment or face feelings of regret and despair.   During this reflective time of life, older individuals gain wisdom as the ultimate virtue of their lifetime.  Just Goggle Erikson to learn more about theses developmental stages.

I must say that this ending stage of life has been a real challenge for me.  When I look back on my life, I am satisfied for the most part about my contributions to the world.  I have helped lots of children, parents, and teachers over my 40 years in education.  I raised two children mostly by myself who are kind and good people for the world.   I used my creativity to make beauty in world. I have tried to be kind to everyone I encountered.  I have peace with all of this. 

What has caused me regret and despair has been actual retirement.  When I retired, I faced several big life challenges all in a matter of months.  I retired, I moved, my beloved Father died, and then Covid hit.  During Covid, I develop a drop foot which gave me mobility problems, and basically, I couldn’t seek medical help until after the pandemic. 

My plans for retirement were halted and had to be changed.  I wasn’t going to be able to travel or join a hiking club or take tap dancing lessons, and pickleball looked like a lot of fun. I was and have been in despair regarding all of this.  I think God was teaching me a lesson with my hubris about how my retirement would look. 

In an earlier blog, I shared with you the lessons learned from the nonfiction book club that my friend, Lisa and I have participated in for the last 5 years.  The basic premise for most of the books is accept and adapt.  I think I have been dealing with acceptance going through the various stages of grief and loss and not putting as much emphasis on adapt.  I knew this in my head, but not in my heart.  I needed time to grieve my loss. I am now trying to work hard on adapting and making the necessary adjustments to give me a life that I want.

After the age of 70, medical challenges begin to appear.  You must deal with them; you have no choice.  I have done a lot of physical therapy and acupuncture.  It is not curing me, but it is keeping me going.  I try new treatments.  For the most part, I must exercise in some way every day.  

Lisa and I are currently reading an excellent book about the second half of life called Joyspan, The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second Half by Kerry Burnight that address many issues of elderhood.  Burnight is trained in geriatrics.  Her key points are to grow, adapt, connect, and give.  Adapting was my weakest point, Burnight gives great suggestions how to work through the various tenants.  Little questionnaires help you pinpoint where you might need to focus your attention.  My attention is on how to adapt my life to be able to live life like I wanted.  Maybe not as I have imagined but still a possibility.  I needed to take a leap of faith.  It is a change in attitude which I control.  I still get discouraged, but I recover much quicker, and then I problem solve how I might meet the challenge.  I need to plan more.  I need to ask for help when I need it.  Secretly, I still hope for a miracle, but I am learning to appreciate what I can do and not regret what I can’t.  

I am right in the middle of Winter.  I love the crisp, clean smell of falling snow so I am trying to enjoy the beauty of this season of life.  It is a slowing down of time.  I am putting energy into me that I was not able to in other seasons. That is a good thing.  I would not have been able to go to doctor’s appointments and treatments in other seasons, so I guess it is good we get these challenges when we age.  Being in winter is getting me ready for the final goodbye, and I am hoping it will be a transition into another spring, an eternal spring with adventures yet to begin. 

Amy Tan’s The Backyard Bird Chronicles

by sssmahh303, posted in Reviews

Mary Ann

You probably know Amy Tan from her international best seller, The Joy Luck Club, and other novels such as The Bonesetter’s Daughter.  She is a talented and engaging storyteller introducing the country and world to her Chinese heritage through vivid tales with universal themes that can be identified by everyone. 

So, it has been interesting to see her writing a book about birds, just birds!  The Backyard Bird Chronicles is her personal journey into nature journaling documenting avian activity in her own backyard, and you discovered this gifted writer is an extraordinary artist as well.   The chronicles begins on September 16, 2017, until December 15, 2022, during much of the Covid Pandemic.  Many people during the Covid shutdown became birders – the birds were freer to move around than we were.  

Tan did her nature journal training with John Muir Laws who is kind of the guru of this art form.  Natural journaling is at a crossroads where the sciences and the arts come together.  You sketch what you observe and document the behaviors you see among the animals or whatever.  The chronicles follow her five years of observations and her comments about what she saw.  She was leaning about the birds she encountered – what they ate, their nests, their bird songs, their eggs, and myriads of other details.   Her sketching is charming, and her writing clearly capture the nature of the birds.  However, the cherry on top of this book are the bird portraits that she does.  Tan draws feather as if they could flutter off the pages.  The artwork is a gift to the eye. 

I love nature journaling and teach classes in it for children and adults.  I have been doing it for over 20 years.  If you love animals and nature, this is a wonderful hobby to adopt.  It is peaceful and nurturing to your soul.  I have seen very active children calm down and become engrossed in nature and sketching while getting lost in time.  Just reading The Backyard Bird Chronicles may spur you on to try it and will incent you to enjoy some quiet time with nature, and you can do it right in your own backyard.  All you need is a blank tablet or book, a pencil, and colored pencils.  No one is going to judge your artwork.  You could draw stick figures – it is more the process than the product.  

There are online free tutorials presented by John Muir Laws (JohnMuirLaws.com) that instruct nature journaling fundamentals.  At the end of The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Tan list bird resource books that can introduce you to our feathered friends. 

I love hummingbirds, and Tan taught me a few things about them that I did not know.  One of these days I will try a hand feeder.  The hummers need to trust me more, yet when you hear the thrum of their wings near your ear, you can have your own trust issues.  They do have little swords for beaks!

The Backyard Bird Chronicles is a joyful read and Tan’s artwork is just lovely adding so much to the text.  It is almost as if you were right there with Tan and seeing the birds as she does.  As I look back on the book, I am still astonished that she spent thousands of dollars on meal worms.  The birds were her babies, and they ate well.  I hope she will follow up with another chronicle again sharing her gift of words and her artistic talents! One unknown author has said, “The greatest gift of birds is their ability to bring a sense of wonder and joy into our lives.”  Amy Tan discovered this.  I hope you will as well. 

The ABCs of Aging for Women of a Certain Age!

by sssmahh303, posted in Lifestyle

Mary Ann, Cynthia, and Friends

There are endless numbers of ABC lists, many made into books.  We enjoy reading them often coming up with our own ideas for each of the letters.   Cynthia and I decided to write the ABCs for the Silver Sage Sisters, so we started compiling a list.  I had a few gatherings with other SSS, so I asked them for their ideas.  Some were aspirational and others were practical voicing concerns. Some thoughts were just funny and yet others were nuggets of wisdom.  The following list is a collective of input.  See if you agree — or did you discover other possibilities?  I am sure that you could add a few words of your own.  This list is a snapshot of growing older:

A – Adaptable, Absent-minded – where are those glasses, Acts of kindness, Staying active, Agony, Assisted Living

B – Brave, Breathe, Bedtime ritual, Beautiful journey, Bone Density Tests, Birding, Baby Boomers, Brain Freeze- what is that word?

C – Caring, Creative, Cataracts, Cruises, Crotchety, Chronic Conditions, Crepe-like skin, Curious, Compression socks, COLA

D – Decadent, Dependence on Depends, Dementia, Dancing, Diets or Not, Doctors appointments

E – Elegant, Eyesight failing, Exercise, Elder 

F – Fearless, Flexibility, Fun, Friends, Family, Faith, Sometimes the f-word just fits, Face lift, False teeth, Falling apart

G – Grace, Gray Hair, Gratitude, Genuine, Gardening, Grandchildren, Great-Grandchildren, Gravity, Giggles

H – Happy, Helpful, Hair thinning, Home, Hobbies, Holidays

I – Independence, Isolation, Intelligence, Intuition, Incontinence, Inevitable

J – Joy, Joint stiffness, Jiggle more, Jowls, 

K – Kindness matters, Bad knees, Knee replacements, Karma, A kiss is still a kiss

L – Laugher, Love, Life Review – reflection, Letting Go, Life-long Learning

M – Meditation, Memory issues– what memory, Money worries, It’s not about the money, Medicare, Medications – never so many, Mature, Memories, Movies any time of day, 

N – New normal, Nutrition, Nature, It’s not over until it’s over, NAPS, Nursing homes

O – Optimistic, Old everything, Osteoporosis, Osteoarthritis, If only….

P – Perseverance, Physical changes, Physiological decline, Prep for retirement, Pickleball, Part A, B,C,D – oh, my!

Q – Queries, Queen of everyday, Quiet time is more important, Quit working, Quality of life

R – Retirement, Radical, Reduced balance and coordination, Reserve, Readiness, Read

S – Sensitive, Spots – age and liver, Surreal, Social Circle Shrinks or expands, Safety, Sleeping Less or in front of the TV, Social Security, Self-Acceptance, Sagging Boobs, Sleeping in

T – Thankful, Travel, Words on the tip-or-your-tongue, Teamwork, Time to smell the roses, Time seems shorter and shorter

U – Unrelenting, Unknown, Unanswered questions, Universal Truths, Unbelievable time

V – Value the past, Volunteerism, Voracity, Virtues, Variety

W – Winsome, Wrinkles, Women’s Rights, No Work, Walking, Wisdom

X – Excellent Life, X-rays, X marks the spot – any spot you want

Y – Yippy – I made it this far!, Yearning, Youthful attitude, You can still change the world

Z – Zenith, Zest for Life

Did any of the concepts ring true for you?  Maybe they spurred some reflection?  It was fun gathering them from other Silver Sage Sisters like you! 

A Mouse in the House

by sssmahh303, posted in Friends and Family

Mary Ann

I have often shared stories of my childhood or a Timmy story with you. I have not shared anything that my own children’s childhoods.  I would like to tell such a story now.

When we lived in California, the library at the school that my children attended had a lending “library” of small animals like guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, or mice and rats that you could check out for the weekend.  It was a wonderful idea for children to enjoy a pet, learn a little about responsibility, and the family didn’t have to buy an animal with a cage, food, bedding, and the like. 

So, one Friday, my daughter brought home a mother rat with her 13 babies.  They were all white with brown spots.  It was only a two-day visit so what could possibility go wrong?  It was a lively group and our whole family got a chance to play with the little ones.  Mother Rat was attentive, and she was quite patient with her babies being manhandled by children.  

Rats are very intelligent and can be quite loving.  It is the word Rat that is a turn off. If you watch All Creatures Great and Small on PBS, Siegfried Farnon, the older vet, has a pet rat.  Rats are interesting, and Siegfried thoroughly enjoys his little friend.  He kept it next to his desk.

I digress.  Saturday came without incident.  Then I walked into my daughter’s bedroom to find an empty rat cage. OMG!  There are 14 rats loose in my house.  Where were they?  Well, next to the dresser where the cage was kept was my daughter’s big wooden doll house. Something told me to look inside, and I did.  It may have been seeing a tail coming out of one of the windows.  There were all the babies with their mother supervising.  The babies were in the bathtub, on the little beds, running up and down the stairs, sitting on the couch and chairs.  At first, it was shocking but after watching them enjoying themselves, it was rather charming. The doll house furniture was just their size.  The baby rats were ready to move it!

I then became a rat wrangler!  I picked up each of the babies by their tails and put them back into their container.  Mother Rat joined them and was happy to be home   She did not want to leave her babies.   When they were all back together in their home, they piled on top of one another like a football scrum for a nap.  Mother Rat took a nap as well always keeping watch on her mischievous brood. I am sure she was exhausted. They had had quite an adventure.  

The rats returned to school Monday morning. I must admit I was not sad to see them go.  However, the library set up adoptions for the babies, and guess what, we adopted one.  Pooky was a very good pet and was loved by the whole family.  I can assure you that Pooky’s cage had a very secure lid.  The only downside of a pet rat is that they chew.  You had to be careful not to put clothing anywhere near her cage.  Otherwise, a sleeve of a sweater soon became a rat’s nest of colorful yarn.  We learned this the hard way.  

I was thankful for my children to have the experience of caring and loving one of God’s creatures.  Over the years we had many little furry friends.  Parents everywhere need to thank all the little mice, hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, and yes, rats for being loving pets to their children!   They are always there for a snuggle.  It teaches children responsibility, how life cycles work, and caring for a fellow creature. In the end a mouse (rat) in the house can be a really good thing!

Fudge

by sssmahh303, posted in Friends and Family

Mary Ann

Timmy stories are part of our family culture.  There is always a lesson in them, and our family grew from the experiences.  However, I am beginning to think that our mother left us alone way too much. She was a strict yet loving mother, and we knew the guidelines.  When she was away, that is when the action happened.  Let me share a Timmy story of one such occasion.

My brother Timmy loved to cook.  However, you could only cook when our mother was home.  That was the family rule, but one Saturday in the summer, Timmy decided to break the rule and make some fudge.  Full disclosure, I was not an accomplice in this venture.  I was reading somewhere in the house while the caper unfolded.

I heard the banging of pans and smelled the chocolate brewing into fudge, and then there was a burnt sugar smell.  After that, there were no sounds in the house, so I went on reading.  Upstairs in the kitchen, Timmy was panicked as the fudge morphed into a burnt blob of sugar, and it would not come off the pan. He thought the fudge was stuck forever!

This was mother’s favorite pan to use when she was cooking, and it would be missed at the next meal prep. Timmy used typical kid logic and needed to hide the evidence.  We had a big field across the road in the front of our house.  He took the pan outside in the front yard and heaved it into the field across the street.  The pan landed in high grass.  No one would know what happened.  He knew he would be in double trouble for unauthorized cooking and destroying our mother’s favorite pan.  He was not free from worry as a cloud of doom formed over his head.

For the next few weeks our mother ranted about the missing pan blaming our father for using it to feed the dogs.  Our father knew better.  I could honestly say I had no idea where it was.  Timmy would deny any knowledge of the pan.  However, he began having trouble sleeping.  He was sick at his stomach.  He couldn’t eat.  It got so bad that he finally confessed one night after he said his prayers.

So, our mother got a flashlight, and Timmy and she went into the field in search of the pan.  It was right where he said he threw it, but there was a surprise!  The pan was clean as a whistle.  I think Timmy learned the power of prayer.  Apparently, the ants had a picnic and feasted on the burnt fudge.  

There is a quote by Lafcadia Hearn about ants – All good work is done the way ants do things: Little by Little.  And boy, did the ants do exactly that.  I don’t remember Timmy getting into trouble.  He had punished himself far more than my parents would have punished him.  I do know our mother was happy to have her pan back.  Timmy’s shoulders were much lighter, and we all learned that burnt pans can be cleaned by ants if all else fails. Tuck that cleaning hack away for another day!   

New York, New York – Part 2

by sssmahh303, posted in Lifestyle

Big Apple, Big Hearts

Mary Ann

New Yorkers get a bum rap for being unfriendly or rude or cold.  They are busy people, but they are at heart kind people.  If you ever watch multiple lanes of traffic at the Holland Tunnel, you will see New Yorkers narrow several lanes of cars blending them into two lanes to exit or enter the city. I have a friend who calls it braiding. The out-of-towners are the ones breaking the lines and are not civil. New Yorkers know that none of that will make a bit of difference.  The line goes when it goes.  Patience is the answer.

When you are riding the subways and are departing or entering the station, New Yorkers will hold a door for the person behind them.  They hold until someone grabs the door.  They don’t look at you but let go when you take hold.  No one says thank you.  Then, you in turn, hold the door until you pass it on to another. 

For the most part, people will stop you on the street and help you find your way if they see you with your nose in a travel guide.  If I ever asked for directions, I was readily given assistance. You can’t ask for more. 

When I first moved to NYC to work, I had no idea what I was doing most of the time.  As I shared before, there is a very steep learning curve.  Early in the transition, I visited a few times to find a place to live and meet the people I would be working with and so on.  

I stayed in a hotel in Chelsea area of the city.  My future boss lived on the Upper West Side.  On one of the early visits, I was to take the subway uptown to meet the boss to go out for dinner.  He told me to take the C train and get off at 86th Street. 

So, I off I went to take one of my first solo subway rides.  I came downstair to the trains and stood by the sign that gave you information about the C Train.  Along comes a train, the door open and I entered the subway car.  We are humming a long, and I notice that we were traveling out through the avenues and not moving North through the streets.  Something was wrong.  I asked someone on the train where the train going.  It was going to QUEENS!  Queens was a foreign country as far as I was concerned, and I was going in the wrong direction.  

The woman I asked where I was, kindly got off the train with me and walked me to the other track to get me going in the right direction.  There I stood where I had started at the C Train info sign.  A train came, the doors opened, and I entered.  We are moving along and suddenly we were moving out through the avenues on my way to QUEENS.  It was Groundhog Day, and I was doing exactly what I did the last round. What was I doing wrong?

I was sitting next to a Budish Monk in his saffron robes and several construction workers surrounded me. I asked for help, and they stepped up.  One of the construction guys in a plaid shirt walked me over to the transit map and explained the routes.  There are three trains – the A, C, and E – all using the same track.  I was getting on the E and not the C.  You must look on the front of the train to see which is which.  I was thinking of subways in Europe where one train is on one track.  People were chiming in giving me advice.  I said I will just up to the street and get a taxi.  No, no, you will never get a taxi on a Friday night, and it will take you forever to get uptown.  Stay on the train!   They gave me directions, and since I now knew how the trains ran, I was on my way finally.  At the time, you could not use a mobile phone in the subway, so I had no way in getting in touch with my boss.  I was just late, VERY late.

I was finally on the right train and made it to 86th street.  I came out of the subway and called my boss as we were walking towards each other.  We greeted one another with laughter.  It was funny after I made it to him.  It wasn’t so funny at the time, yet I never felt scared or panicked because there were kind people around me who were willing to go out of their way to help me on a busy Friday night when they just wanted to get home.  So, I know firsthand the kindness of New Yorkers, and they don’t deserve the bum rap of being rude.  

If I remained on the E Train and actually went to Queens, I may have never found my way back to Manhattan. What an adventure that would have been!  However, I know that someone would have helped me,  The city may be known as the Big Apple, but it is also should be known as a city with a Big Heart! 

Invisalign

by sssmahh303, posted in Wellness

Mary Ann

When I was in seventh grade, I got braces.  I was one of the few kids in the school to have them.  And on top of that, I wore glasses.  Four eyes became metal mouth. In those days, you wore metal band around the whole tooth, and you wore little rubber bands to pull the teeth in the right direction.  I can remember that each time I went to get them tightened, I was in pain before we hit the elevator. It was a very long two years to get my teeth straight.  Then it was retainers for years. Did any of you have those experiences in your junior high years? 

Today, kiddos have a much different experience.  Most children are wearing braces today. You are really not different from anyone else at school.  It starts much earlier with pallet spreaders, retainers before and after, and the development of Invisalign – the invisible retainers that gradually move your teeth. You must wear those retainers for 23 hours a day and that can be difficult for young people to do.  However, you can’t really see them, so you “quietly” make the changes to your smile. 

Initially what started my brace journey was a little girl jumping on my back when I was three and I hit the refrigerator, and my front tooth blacken and died.  I lost the tooth way too early so when the permanent teeth came in, my one front tooth crossed the other front tooth.  The braces fixed the tooth and my bite, so I was gifted with a great smile.  

In my 50s my teeth began to shift. The cross over tooth was crossing over again and the other tooth was drifting back so I had a shadow when I smile.   It would show up especially in photos.  My dentist in NYC suggested I try Invisalign to fix my teeth again.  So, in my sixties, I began to wear braces, the new improved version, but nevertheless it was still braces. I was one of the orthodontist’s oldest patients.  At my age, I oversaw my own procedures.  I would check in every 6-8 weeks.  I was given the trays, and I was very disciplined wearing them for the required 23 hours.  Occasionally I would take a few  extra hours off.  I was able to complete the procedures in 15 months.  The Orthodontist corrected the shifting tooth, but he also realigned my bite, so my bottom teeth did not touch my top teeth making them better for old age.  The final trays become your retainers, and they prevent you from grinding your teeth and wearing them down. 

I was happy that I decided to wear braces twice.  Once is enough for most people.   However, if you are not happy with your teeth or your smile or having problems with your bite causing problems with your teeth, Invisalign is something to consider.  It cost me $5000 for the procedure and some of it was covered by my dental insurance from work and I had money in my HSA.  Today, it would cost you up to $9,500.  To me it was worth every cent.  I am very good at wearing my retainers each night.  On my first round of braces, you were weaned off retainers – every day to three times a week to once a week then done.  Really, you are never really done with retainers because teeth shift.   So, if you want to keep that beautiful smile, it will need constant attention. If you ever considered doing Invisalign, it is easy and not too much discomfort.  Remember, you are never too old to begin again whether it is your first or second time with braces!