Apparently I cannot go to the dentist without writing about it in this blog.

After I went this morning, I started composing a blog entry in my head about how the usually fab music at this particular dentist’s office was strangely absent today. BECAUSE I KNOW YOU CARE A LOT.

Don’t know why there was no music on this sunny morning, but did enjoy having the chipper hygienist (as if there’s any other kind) and the handsome dentist tell me what a splendid job I’m doing taking care of my teeth. I told them each in turn that it’s because both my parents have had gum issues, but that’s partly a lie. I don’t really do anything extraordinary in terms of dental care, I’m just moderately responsible and very lucky (so far).

My “Well, I don’t want to have the troubles my parents have had” answer echoed in my brain after I left the dentist’s. Why is it, I asked myself, that I have any measure of conscientiousness at all about my teeth, because of my genes, but am unconscionably lax about other inherited tendencies — namely, those toward weight-related ailments? Why, when I know I might be predisposed for things like diabetes and heart disease, don’t I daily say to myself, “Well, I don’t want to have the troubles others in my family have had”?

Reader, I have no good answer for this. I mean, I have a million answers ranging from the incredibly simple to the psychologically complex, but I don’t know that any of them are “good.” And maybe they don’t even matter. Maybe all that matters is making a little effort, every day, to eat a little better, move a little more, and be moderately responsible. If I can start with that, maybe I can get some momentum going toward better health — and getting compliments on more than just my teeth (which, I must say, are really not that great).

Bah. I dunno. But I did just get back from a long lunchtime walk in the lovely sunshine, and have a nice salad waiting for my lunch.

I also now have “Mack the Knife” in my head. There are a million versions to choose from, but this clip is capital C CHARMING.

Pearl Bailey is my new best friend, I tell you what.

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