And the cow jumped over the moon.......

It's hard to believe that my first grandchild, Alissa, will be 13 this week.  I've spent a lot of time reminiscing about her as a baby and throughout the years.  It seems like yesterday that Nana was rocking her and singing "Nana's Lullaby" to her and now she's a beautiful young lady. Time is passing by too quickly!

I'll never forget when she was a baby, we were in church and I was holding her. She had her passie in her mouth and it was just a going!  I looked down at her and wiggled my nose.  She smiled through her passie and giggled.  Well, that was it for me.  Steph and I laughed uncontrollably and as quietly as we could. This happened during the preaching!  It was one of those times when you laugh so hard you cry! 

Another favorite memory of her was her ballet years.  Alissa started ballet classes when she was 3.  She always loved to play dress up so this was the perfect thing for her to get to do.  She took several years of ballet and we attended all of her recitals.  She was so precious in her little dance costumes!  Even after the recitals, her costumes became her play clothes and she transpired into a "balla-princess" once again.  That's what she called it...."balla-princess".

On one particular birthday she got a new purple tutu that came with a crown and a magic wand.  She danced and twirled and entertained us all.  She was so precious and cute and my heart swelled with pride......she's my granddaughter!

To this day I'm still not sure what transpired, but in a split second she was not happy with me.  She turned her sweet little face to me, scrunched her nose, lowered her eyebrows in her "I'm going to throw a fit" face, waved her magic wand at me and said, "Poof!  You're a Cow!"  In an immediate reaction to her spell,  my smile turned to the "granny stare" that would scare the horns off a billy-goat....and in an instant, her magic wand disappeared and never was seen again!   Mooooo! 

Smile awhile and give your face a rest................

As I’m laying back in the dental chair and a surgery lamp hanging over my head, I have flash backs of childhood when technology was not what it is today. I have to commend the person who invented the little suction wand that removes excess saliva during the teeth cleaning process. When I was a kid, the hygienist gave us a paper cup of water and we did the three “S‘s“. We sipped, swished and spit. It was awkward and embarrassing as drool made it’s way down the side of the little green, porcelain spittoon and down my chin! Now that I’m older, I can think of so many things that were wrong about that. Unless there was a full time janitorial service to clean up after every patient’s hits and misses, I am horrified to think of being the last patient of the day! Which makes me think of a similar porcelain object in my home that grosses me out not nearly as much!

I also remember when the hygienists didn’t wear gloves or surgical masks. Today, thanks to OSHA, many more precautions are taken. I’m always happy to see my hygienist put on a fresh set of gloves before putting her hands in my mouth and I‘m especially appreciative when she‘s wearing a surgical mask. Knowing there is a barrier between her DNA and mine makes me feel much better. Yes….times have changed a lot.

Finally, after sitting quietly while the hygienist works magic on my smile, I recall other times when a previous hygienist asked way too many questions. Don’t you hate it when that happens! First of all asking all of those personal questions makes you want too say, “It’s non of your biz-wax”, but how can you say anything at all with her hand crammed in your mouth…..I’m just sayin‘!