Cantaloupes and Molars

We were in River Heights, the apartment we used to live in before I started high school.

My dad came home for the weekend, from his work at LaGrange.  Because I was napping so long and neglected his homecoming, he woke me up and angrily yelled at me in his inconsiderate way.  After he stormed away, I was filled with anger as well, and I was having a hard time letting it simmer down.  Then I overheard my mom talking to him, "I don't think it was right for you to do that,"  "She was looking forward to seeing you,"  "It wasn't the best way to do it."  A little later they started chatting and laughing about how much cantaloupe Alex has eaten.  I started to cool off, and felt thankful that my mom understood.

With barely any time for me to calm down, a freak event happened -- all of my bottom left molars fell out together.  I tried to put them back in, but they wouldn't go back in properly and started to push other teeth out as well.  I panicked, of course.  Holding my teeth in place, I ran to my mom in the kitchen (ha, she would be there) and said, "Big trouble!!!!!!!!!"  She said, "Oh no, another wisdom tooth came in??"  I said, "No!!!  Look!!!!" and showed her my problem.

Then I returned to Milledge Place F10, Athens.  The first thing I did upon realizing that was to bite down and make sure I still had my molars in place.  Huge relief.  Next feeling I had wasn't what I should feel after getting yelled at by Dad and (almost) having my molars fall out.  Instead I felt a dab of warmth and nostalgia.  I asked myself, "Wait, why the heck do I feel nostalgic?  How was that different from now?"  Then I remembered.

To whom else would I go to shamelessly show my fallen-out molars?  Who else would understand exactly my dad's temper and my anger and warmly remedy the situation?

Thanks for appearing today and reminding me of motherly love, Mom.  Maybe the best dream of you I have ever had!  Thank you thank you.

To be fair to my dad -- I love him, too -- something he said in June 2009:

Relationships are the core of life.  We have to be there for each other.  You know, scratch where it itches, rub where it aches.  And you have to do it while they're here.

Ah, Mommy and Daddy.  Using them in the same sentence is a privilege of sorts.