Celebrating love every day

   In the vast country of the United States, the business of the heart was honored yesterday. It was Valentine’s Day 2018. People were chiming in celebrating their loves of all different forms - their significant others, children, friends, self, jobs, nature, Gods. Others scoffed at the merriment feeling too.....uncomfortable.

   I tuned into our social media scene to see where my tribe was at with this fun celebration. Some posted photos of their heart helds, others made poignant statements of icy gestures to quell their awkward feelings, some were silent while a few others posted rambling rage about this stupid celebration of love.

    My family loves love. My parents endured many tribulations and trials....the death of a child being one. And somehow, their teenage love turned into adult  grown up love prosperous. Every Valentine’s Day, my dad is still romancing my mom.  

   My dad still romances my mom after nearing 50 years. He always will.

   My parents and I still exchange Valentines. We still celebrate our bond of the heart. I surprised them yesterday with a warm smile, a few homemade candies and a hug. Why? Because we do that...we hug. We are a family of huggers and my husband has surprisingly enjoyed joining in the festivities! Every day around us is like Valentine’s Day.

    My family.....We hug, we laugh, we cry, we disagree, we hug. I am blessed to have grown up in a home of daily hugs and “I love you”s. I enjoy letting people  around me know that I value them. My friends all have come to expect a hug upon greeting and a farewell hug. My nephews will grab a hug randomly during family gatherings. Sometimes, special needs folk will walk up to me on the street, in a store or restaurant and ask. They sense I am a hugger!

   

   In this world of #metoo a hugger needs to know when or when not. Communication is key. But I believe, for the most part, people enjoy a solid hug. It’s a fellowship gesture that helps people feel connected and with all the mass shootings our country has had so far, we need more connectivity that revolves around matters of the heart. We need bonds. We need to notice when others are happy, sad, ill or need help. We need to connect with our neighbors, kin and fellow beings. We need more understanding and less posturing. We need to connect and share what we fear most...for many of us that is letting people close.

   With my  yoga practice, fellow yogis enjoy sparking the heart chakra with wide arms, heart forward or hands together protecting the heart. Honoring fellow like minded people. Namaste - I see and honor who you are. Its a wonderful flow  of energy! People enjoy feeling! 

   I guess thats what’s Valentines is  to me and my family....a celebration of heart bonds. My sweetheart brought home a bottle of wine and we enjoyed good comvo celebrating our heart bond. No extravagant gifts or over the top tributes. We are quietly giddy with each other, celebrating each other and our matrimonial bond, the bond of our worlds.  I took our daughters on a snowy mountain hike to exercise our hearts and to enjoy our heart bond with nature. Love is life❤️ 

Blessings!

My Smile Direct Club Journey

  Hi, my name is Cris and I used to be a lifelong thumb sucker....

I'm been on some great journeys lately....both figuratively and literally. If you follow my blog, I talk about quite a few of them, and if you are just tuning into my world, you'll hear about this one....

   The wonderful world of Smile Direct Club...yes, I have absolutely zero complaints with my entire experience! I'm not a paid spokesperson or salesperson either.  I am, however, an ambassador. The hardest part of the whole process was---well I'm getting ahead of myself and I need to explain how I came to shamelessly flashing my pearly whites!

   Many of my fellow Hashi warriors and autoimmune mates will know the struggles of not feeling well and using crutches to get us through. I'm going to go ahead and say this: I used to be a life long thumb sucker. No, I didn't sit around watching the television sucking my thumb as an adult or stand in front of the oven cooking dinner with my thumb in my mouth - only at night when I was sick or feeling really stressed. I quit publicly sucking my thumb before early grammer school. I tried several times over the years using every known method to man besides putting the apparatus in your mouth that cuts your thumb to break you of the habit. As much as I tried, even after I had children, it was no avail. That darned appendage would find it's way in to comfort me in my times of need.

    This was a profound source of embarrassment and hardship with certain people that would happen to learn of my crutch. I'm happy to say, once I met my husband, literally overnight, this plaguing habit vanished and has never returned! You do that math on that. He completes me.

   Not only was I a thumb sucker, I had such terrible acid reflux that wreaked havoc on the enamel of my teeth. It was only after four decades, did I discover the source was being gluten intolerant. Once I truly succumbed to the world of gluten free did my reflux go away....along with many other ailments I might add! I loathed and hated going to the dentist only to hear about how I needed braces, the cutting apparatus or that again I had cavities and be sent along saying I needed to brush more frequently and to stop sucking my thumb....does a person really rhink I hadn’t tried everything?!
 
   The day I ordered my impression kit (click impression kit for a 50 percent off) changed my tooth fortune for the better! It arrived quickly in the mail and the instructions were so easy to follow. I also had to get brave and have someone help me take photos of my teeth. Everything I needed was in the instructions with the kit. The folks at Smile Direct Club also have people waiting online or via telephone to help you through any of the steps. THAT'S IT! In a few short weeks, I received an email on if and how my personal Smile Direct Club dentist could help my mouth. I received a detailed plan with how many weeks this process would take and a slideshow demonstrating my progress throughout the whole process including what my teeth would look like after treatment.

    After I made the decision to change my frown upside down, I filled out the necessary paperwork online and chose my payment option. This company has two options, pay in full for a discount or make monthly payments. I chose to pay in full because I love to save money! For a whopping $1,500 plus change for an after treatment retainer, I would have the smule I knew I could!

   My first box arrived with several trays included. I read the pamphlet included, looked at their website and took a big breath, found my tray pack labeled #1  and snapped in my first set. CLICK! I was worried I would never get them off again to eat. They felt so snug and secure. They give you a wonderful little tool that you can use to pull them off.
   Also every so often I would be contacted by my Smile Direct Club contact to see how things were going, if I had any issues or questions or if I just wanted to be left alone for a while and I would contact them :)

It's that easy!

   My plan was nine months long. We had a lot of moving to do! I'm not going to say this was painless, as it was not all the time. I struggled at first with spit building up in my trays and then figured out how to clear that out either by rinsing really quick or swallowing more frequently. I enjoyed being able to eat and then flossing and brushing before putting my trays back in. I looked forward to every new tray (adjustment) knowing I was another step closer to the smile some experts in the field  said I would never have...until that lovely little 3D imaging printing arrived in our universe. 

   Treatment: It's quite normal for the trays to be extremely snug the first few days, and then as you are nearing the two week mark to change your trays out, they will be loose. You will have a few loose days and then get prepared to switch things up and get those teeth moving again! You might bleed sometimes when adjusting happens. Just rinse with cold water and it’s gone. Tenderness happens. It is a fact of the process.

    So, if you were a closet thumb sucker, or have  had oral fixation issues that jumbled your teeth around, give this company some of your time and maybe a little bit of your money! I can't begin to tell you how convenient, easy and cost effective this method of teeth straightening is. Plus, I always had plague build-up and constantly brushed and flossed my teeth only to look at have that "white stuff" between my teeth an hour later. Since my teeth have been straightened, I hardly have that! Click here to see what Smile Direct Club can do for you!

Until next time! Blessings!