My So Called Mid-Life Crisis

For various reasons (some explainable and some unexplainable), I am in the midst of a serious makeover. I feel like I am a contestant on The Swan. Some things I have been planning for quite some time, other things have come up more recently. I have been speaking with friends recently and each one commented that I was holding out information from him or her. Well no more secrets people, this is my disclosure e-mail.

I have been wearing my Invisalign braces for a little over a month now. After a few days, you do not even realize they are there and I am really excited to get my teeth all straightened. I am on my third set of retainers and even in this short amount of time, I can see where my teeth have shifted in certain spots. I have a fantastic dentist (not to mention cute and fun) and I could not ask for better care.

Next Tuesday, I have an appointment for LASIK surgery. I have considered LASIK for many years, but my prescription is not severe and it was one of those things I swore I would get to one day. A couple of my friends have both had excellent procedures from a well known San Francisco eye surgeon and said surgeon is offering a 24 month interest free payment plan until the end of May. The stars seem to be aligned right now and I am very excited about living glasses free for the first time in ten years. One less thing to have to worry about.

Lastly, I will be getting a tattoo on Monday. I must admit, this is the thing that scares me the most. I will post some photos when I get it done. The idea for this particular tattoo came from an episode of Miami Ink on TLC. My life has changed so drastically in the past few years and I am looking at this as a celebration of my good fortune and a tribute to the spirits that watch over and protect me. The artist has worked on my friend Daniela and she gives him rave reviews. He also specializes in the type of tattoo that I want. Getting tattooed and pierced can seem a bit extreme to people who know me. I guess I have never seemed the type to want to do something like that. I have been craving a tongue ring for years.

My friend Christi and I were speaking about this the other day. I am not sure if it is the Catholic guilt or growing up in a military family or just parental pressure in general. Even though I am thirty three years old, I still have this sense that I should not disappoint my parents. Considering that I did not get a degree or go down the straight and narrow (pun intended) and produce grandchildren, I definitely have the sense (rightly or wrongly) that I have failed my parent's expectations in some sense. Granted life is a crap shoot and very little ever turns out the way we planned it to. Christi commiserated with me about the guilt factor. As I think back on it now though, after my maternal grandmother died, my mother had a big conversation with me about the guilt she had felt from her parents. Hmm... Guilt, the gift that keeps on giving! I am sure that my new tattoo will add a few more gray hairs to her head.

I have just made a conscious decision that I am going to take the Edith Piaf approach to this whole thing. Non, je ne regrette rien! That is the skinny on me and what is coming up in the next couple of weeks. It has been warm this week in the Bay Area, getting up to the low 80s where I live. May and September are our two hot months, so I am looking forward to cooler June. Gorgeous summer nights with the fog rolling in over the hills thick as pea soup.

Cuidate.