A Proud Moment

Dear Daughter has a strong sense of herself. She decided before she turned three that she wants to be an astronaut someday. AND a deep sea diver. One thing I feel strongly about is that she could do either one well, and it wouldn't surprise me if she found a way to do both simultaneously. While I'm not a die hard for women's rights and all that jazz, I do feel strongly that sometimes a woman is the right "man" for the job and that the person (whether man or woman) best for the job should be the one to do it. And the compensation for the job should not be less just because it is done by a woman. I am assertive. I am pretty sure of myself, especially in the professional world. I have a strong personality. I am proud to see my daughter following in my footsteps and demonstrating a sureness of herself and her abilities as well.

Tonight I had an especially proud moment. Dear Daughter was playing make believe. She had to perform a very important surgical procedure on her beloved Taggie Book(who had to have an extra bone removed--gee, where do you think she gets these ideas?). In the midst of the whole scene she was playing out, Daughter paused to inform me that she is a doctor and her husband is a nurse. I giggled despite myself and said under my breath, "That's my girl!" as I wrapped her in a hug. She snuggled into my hug and asked, "Why are you laughing, Mommy!" I replied simply, "I'm just really proud of you!"

For those of you interested, Daughter's consult this morning with the oral surgeon went well. The extra tooth has to be extracted and he was pretty firm about using general anesthetic to minimize the risks of an airflow collapse which would be more of a concern with sedation. It does need to be done soon, as the permanent tooth has already rotated 90 degrees due to the obstruction. Getting it out now will prevent further damage and he feels the prognosis is good that the tooth will rotate back into position and that if there is any rotation left when it comes in, simple orthodontics, perhaps even just a retainer, should correct it. The best news is that he felt pretty confident that he could get it out without disrupting her two top baby teeth, so her smile will likely be saved! It's still a possibility either or both of the teeth could have to come out, but he didn't even bring it up as a possibility until I brought it up as a concern. It will be a quick and short procedure, with his surgical portion of it only taking about 20 minutes.

And now I get to collect on the lunch my husband bet me on how much this whole "little" procedure is going to cost us. We don't carry dental insurance. The cost of the premiums and deductible would be greater than our average annual dental costs, so we choose instead to use a high deductible savings account to save for these things and accrue a little interest along the way. I told him I expected it to cost towards $2,000.00. He vehemently denied this, never stating a figure, only stressing that he believed it would be much much lower. I insisted it wouldn't be, and came down only to about $1,600.00 to $1,800.00 in my prediction. Then he bet me lunch, and I took him up on it. The actual estimated cost from the surgeon's office comes right in the middle of my prediction. So...I'm trying to decide now where he is going to take me. It was kind of a backwards bet: "I'm betting this will be really expensive, and if I'm right, you can take me out for a fancy expensive lunch as well." So despite my winning, we'll probably be eating peanut butter sandwiches on the crub. *sigh*