Old Postcard Wednesday—Smile!

I am cheating this week, in that what you see above is not an authentic "old" postcard but is, instead, a postcard from my dentist's office serving as an appointment reminder.  It was obviously created using old photos, and I wonder if it may have, in fact, initially been an old postcard and if the girls were each holding a small flag that was Photoshopped out and replaced with those toothbrushes you see them holding.

Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile may know that I have been wearing braces for a long time, having passed three years at the beginning of May. Adult orthodontia is a real journey, I tell ya! Mine would not actually be over quite yet because there is still some tweaking here and there that my orthodontist would have liked to do (we were never shooting for "perfect" because I had bone loss and gum recession from years of over-brushing using hard toothbrushes). But a recent x-ray showed that two roots in my front lower teeth have shortened significantly, indicating stress (and warning of potential loss of those teeth) and my orthodontist said the braces must come off immediately. It was okay with me, as I am more than ready to be done with this and I could tell that they were going to look better than they ever have in my life.

So, on Tuesday they removed the braces from the top row of teeth and measured for a clear retainer. On Thursday I will return to have a permanent metal retainer installed on the back of the lower front teeth, after which they will remove the braces on the bottom row. Then I will be done.

It is sort of magical for me having the top braces off now, with my teeth all straight and polished and looking like I wish they had all my life. In my adolescent and teen years I was especially embarrassed by my crooked teeth and I know my lack of self-esteem held me back socially, perhaps academically. During college I worked for a local savings and loan as a Girl Friday and was once sent on an errand to pick up a photo of the office softball team at a downtown photographer's studio. The photographer asked me if I modeled. I told him no and couldn't get out of there fast enough. As I walked back to the office I wondered, Didn't he see my crooked teeth? In my adulthood I was simply used to them and have even had compliments on my smile. Then in the last decade as I aged my teeth began to really shift in such a way that my bite was completely off, causing me jaw tiredness and pain and ruining the quality of my sleep. For physical and sanity reasons, and not for vanity reasons, I decided to consult with the orthodontist, and now the rest truly is nearly history.

I was told I looked like different women during varying phases on my way into adulthood. For a one-year period of my life, my junior year of high school to be exact, several different men said I looked like Geraldine Chaplin. Doctor Zhivago, the movie, had been released earlier and her role as his long-suffering wife made her famous at the time. I bring this up now because there is one photo of me taken that year in which I do see the resemblance, and it was — typically — of me not smiling, most often because I was hiding my teeth. This all came to mind because the message on the old postcard speaks about a great American smile, which made me think of the greatest song ever written about a smile, a song written by Charlie Chaplin, Geraldine Chaplin's father, who was not American at all but British, and who has been responsible through the decades for more worldwide smiles than probably any other comedic actor. And that reminded me of a marvelous video that I posted at my other blog some years ago, with Geraldine Chaplin and her daughter singing Chaplin's marvelous song, Smile. As I mentioned, references likening my appearance to Geraldine Chaplin were short-lived, and I do not see any resemblance in the mature women we have become.

Here are photos of Geraldine Chaplin and me taken within a few years of one another, followed by that wonderful video, thus ending what is probably the most personal OPW post ever here at Writerquake, and I thank you for indulging me this sidetrack.

Mother and daughter sing Smile in 2009.
Oona (Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter named for his wife, Oona) & Geraldine Chaplin (Charlie Chaplin's daughter)


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1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10

I was tagged by Riyadh who writes the blog A Walk Through My Life from his beloved Bangladesh, and who I call my nephew after developing a closeness with him via blogging. He wrote the dearest thing about me in the post in which he gave this award to me and nine others.

As I have done recently with blog awards I will not tag anyone in particular. Instead, I hope that any of you who are inclined to write a post containing ten things about yourself or to take up the challenge of actually passing along the award to ten others to do so in honor of the marvelous friendships we gain by being a part of the blogosphere. Here are the official rules:


    * Tell your readers 10 things about yourself that they may or may not know, but are true.
    * Tag 10 people with the award, and be sure to let them know they’ve been tagged (a quick comment on their blog will do).
    * Link back to the blogger who tagged you.


Ten things you may or may not know about me:

1. I have an appointment with my orthodontist today. This is because I have worn braces since May 2009 and I have about nine more months to go. I have no complaints about the process, as this is something I longed to do for decades. Adult orthodontia is a real adventure!

2. September 1st will be our 15th anniversary. We are going to a play in Portland on Sunday as an early celebration.

3. October 15th will be my 25th sobriety anniversary. Aforementioned play (I'll post more about it on Sunday) happens to actually be more representative of alcoholism than it does of marriage, so I'm expecting it to be powerful for me.

4. My favorite word is GLOAMING.

5. My least favorite word(s) are those used by racists as descriptors for other human beings. You won't see those words on my blog.

6. I dearly love all of my pets, but I am in love with my cat Willow. I don't care if that seems strange. It is the truth.

7. I do not personally identify much with my astrological sign, Capricorn. But I read my horoscope anyway.

8. Autumn is my favorite season, October my favorite month.

9. I didn't meet my birth father until I was 21 years old.

10. Saturday is the 2nd blogiversary for my other blog, Clutterquake.



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one more time around the parade

Below is the video I shot from my camera in the bleachers where we sat for the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade last Saturday. It is shaky, sorry. But this group is such a crowd favorite that I thought some of you would get a smile from their performance. The video is 3:24 minutes long because that's the amount of time it takes for all of these people to march by. Be sure to watch for when I pan to the left when you can see the size of this band as it snakes to the right, having approached the street from the complex where the parade began.

The Portland Rose Festival One More Time Around Again Marching Band presented by Standard TV & Appliance (aka the OMTAAMB) is comprised of over 500 marching band fanatics who don't know when to quit! Members range in age from 18 to 85 and have all marched at some point in their life. Listen for the OMTAAMB in June as they march through the streets of Portland in the Portland Rose Festival Grand Floral Parade and Starlight Parade and their feature performance at Concert at the Park.

The OMTAAMB is made up of former high school, college and military marching band members. Members come from far away places just to perform with the band each year -- in recent years there are members who have come from California, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Japan and New Zealand.

Read the full history of OMTAAB (above text from this site & I added the emphasis).



I tried something altogether different with the still shots. So we are experimenting together on this one! I actually was pleased with a few of the stills I took, some that I didn't include in the little animoto project below. I just didn't feel like weeding through gazillions of shots to select one to post, plus I've been wanting to try an animoto since enjoying them at ParisDailyPhoto, where Eric has become an absolute pro with this medium.

The ending shot is of Mike and me after lunch at Cadillac Cafe (where there is a real, very beautifully restored Caddy behind glass in the dining room). Because the shot moves along quickly I felt brave to share with you two changes in me........... I got braces in May after wanting them for decades and I have decided to let the gray grow out in my hair! I have about two inches now and I've been surprised how much I like it, what depth it has as opposed to false haircoloring. Totally shocked actually, and Mike was right about this all along. This means I need to alter the wording in my profile About Me, once I'm positive I'm committed to the change.

(About the braces, after this general announcement here, I will be sharing the 21-month-long odyssey of adult orthodontia from time to time in my other blog only!)

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I'm finding that the animoto doesn't always work the first time, and when I click "refresh" then push play again, there is no problem.





Roses graphics: webweaver.nu



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