Lane's Back Nine – my online diary as a 55-year old

Reconnection

Communication

Laughter

Sunshine

Friendship

Determination

Perseverance

ANBESOL. (Thanks, Invisalign.)

I decided to go to ‘the dark side’ (Facebook) to clean up my friends list, in the event that I ever decide to go back on a regular basis…while I was there, I figured, “What the heck – put the blog link out there!” so people know that I’m still here (somebody actually asked if I had died….go figure.) I’ve connected my blog so that it will post to FB, without me having to actually go on to FB (Hallelujah!)….so I welcome anyone and everyone to my personal nirvana….but please know this – no political comments/rants please….if I’m not writing about it, no need to start a discussion about it….save that for Zuckerberg’s page, not mine! – L Train 11/6/2019

Is it wrong that my smile looks better when I’m wearing the Invisalign trays than it does without them?

I signed back off of Instagram this morning.

As nice as it was to hear from my friends, it still made me feel stressed being back on there, as the feelings of exclusion started to creep back in.

Not sure if or when I’ll go back, as I felt this Incredible sense of calmness the moment I logged off…I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything.

Confidence

Creativity

Patience

Compassion

Humor

Focus

Clarity

FORGIVENESS

I went back on Instagram.

Nice pictures, happy people.

I’ll see how it goes.

People ask me why I only smile with my mouth closed…a few years back while playing trumpet on a wedding gig, a guest accidentally bumped into me, and my mouthpiece cracked the bottoms of my two front teeth. The combination of this plus the natural gap between my two front teeth has always made me feel like a “walrus with fangs”, and I’ve been very self-conscious about my smile.

My dentist expressed concerns about the stability of these two teeth, and recommended I get Invisalign (or as I call them, my “AARP braces”)….this will straighten the other teeth, and reduce (but not eliminate) the natural gap, and after Invisalign, my two front teeth will be repaired either by composite or by crown.

The American Songbook tune “I’ll Never Smile Again” will no longer be my theme song…and it’ll be nice to smile with confidence.

So I was made aware that even though I deactivated my Facebook account months ago, my Facebook Messenger was still open. There was a ‘double downside’ to having to deal with this today…..

First I had to go back into my Facebook account to retrieve messages, as I didn’t want to download the FB Messenger app. In predictable fashion, the first post in my feed was somebody whining about politics….shut up already!!

Then I went to Messenger to see the 14 messages I missed, including one from a friend whose child is gravely ill – this was posted three weeks ago. To say that I feel horrible about just finding out is an understatement.

The only upside to dealing with this today was to quickly realize how much I don’t miss Facebook – I could feel my stress climbing when I saw that ridiculous post. There’s no doubt in my mind that my quality of life has gotten much better since walking away.

Quiet

The sound of the rain

A good nap

The feel of a comfy blanket

A good cup of warm cocoa

My comfy sweats with warm socks

Having clarity on a rainy afternoon

FEELING LOVED ❤️

Spent the evening at an alumni function for my alma mater in DC tonight. Very cool to have the chance to speak with recent 2019 graduates (that are less than half my age! Holy crap!), and share life experiences since my time in college. I truly enjoyed being around people with such optimism, as they are beginning their journey into the real world, and it felt nice to be an elder statesman helping them as they begin the journey.