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jennickels) wrote2011-11-18 07:35 pm
scrapbook pages: my mom
These are some of the pages I made of my mom through the years. In honor of her birthday which is November 27 (she would have been 63 this year).
My mom when she was about 4. It's one of the very few childhood photos we have of her.
[ignore the dates in the corner...I was really tired when I made the page and wrote the actual date in 2006, not the day she died in 2000, lol...that's why you shouldn't scrap while tired.]
This was taken on a camping trip with my dad in the early 70s. She would have been in her early 20s.
Another one from the early 20s. Might have been on the same camping trip, I forget.
Me and my mom around 1978. She was pregnant with my brother at the time.
This is one of my favorite photos of her. We were at my Uncle Denny's house. I was only like 3 so I don't actually remember it but I love looking at the photos. She just loved to be out in nature and loved Denny's house on the lake.
Another favorite picture...my mom (on the right) and her two younger sisters, Carol and Susie at our family reunion in 1985.
Me and my mom (yep, that picture again). We were at my Uncle Denny's house again and had just gotten down with a huge leaf fight.
This one was taken at my Aunt Nora's house after my cousins wedding shower I think it was. All I know is that everyone was hung over (I didn't get to go because I was away at school). She was always laughing and smiling.
I wish I had more pictures of her. I kept meaning to scan them but never got around to it. My dad has thousands at his house.
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My dad in his prime was movie-star handsome, except when it came to his teeth. They were white and even and strong, but bing born in 1936 and having grown up in the days when boys were almost never sent to the orthodontist (although many girls were if their parents had the money) no one ever corrected the way his two front teeth on the top crossed.
Other than that, they were truly fine teeth. He'll be 76 in June, and he has only two minor cavities which his dentist filled saying that it probably was not completely necessary, they were so small, but that he was going to go ahead "out of an excess of caution."
When my son, named for both of his grandfathers ended up with his two front permanent teeth crossed as they grew in, we sent him off to the orthodontist.
I think your mom's teeth (in their uncorrected form) were perfectly lovely, but then again, I have nothing whatsoever against "pointy teeth". The teeth that bother me are probably the kind your mom wished she had: broad, flat, white, even, straight teeth. They always just look fake to me.
Still, I'm glad your dad was able to get her the work that she needed to make her happier with her smile, because a smile like that should be shared often, and it's nice to think that it got easier for her to share it, even if she was never completely thrilled with how she looked.
After all, which one of us is? I don't know about you, but in family photographs, I always focus on all the others to avoid focussing on myself, and yet I've never been unattractive.
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I really need braces, too. I have a horrible, horrible overbite that drives me crazy. It not only looks stupid but it screws up my bite. It's almost impossible for me to eat things like apples and corn on the cob because of the way my teeth are. I always had my mom cut the corn off the cob and I cut up apples and stuff. Or, if I eat them normally I have to have a napkin because it makes a huge mess. Blah. I also have jaw problems and stuff. It's irritating. I'll probably never be able to afford the braces (just like my parents couldn't when I was a kid) so I guess I just suck it up. I hate smiling for the camera, though.
Stupid buck teeth.
found a pic of Owen's flat, straight teeth. When the adult ones started coming in they came in while the baby teeth were still in his mouth so they are all messed up now. Every single adult tooth came in before the baby tooth fell out. Ugh.
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I had teeth like Owen's in my kiddie photos, but I got all my adult teeth except my wisdom teeth by the time I was 9 1/2, and I was a tiny 4th grader, one of the smallest in a class of 120, with a tiny mouth. I got my wisdom teeth in by the time I was 12, and I still 4'8" then.
My orthodontist had his work cut out for him!
The first thing he did was to have the adult teeth behind my canines pulled, and expand my palate, pulling the back teeth forward to make room for the wisdom teeth. He put in the hardware for that just before I was sent off to visit my dad for our month together in the summer. It changed my face so much that when my mom came to pick me up again at the airport, she was startled when an unfamiliar kid came up and hugged her around the waist, until she realized it was me.
He did good work, and when he was done, I had a much more functional bite (the only really good reason to get orthodontia done), and my teeth were unremarkable looking, with plenty of room for those wisdom teeth. They were never preternaturally even and straight, so they don't scream "EXPENSIVE DENTISTRY!" at you every time I open my mouth, which I consider a plus.
I agree that if you were suddenly to win the lottery or something, it would be a good idea to get your overbite corrected on functional grounds, but I don't see it as unattractive. Then again I'm old enough (53) to have my visual memory of faces formed by seeing my parents' and grandparents' generation, most of whom did not get orthodontia (my mother and mother-in-law did), so I don't have an expectation, as my kids' generation seems to, that teeth will be white, even, and straight on everybody. Like in my icon.
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When I was a kid you only got them if your parents could afford them without going into horrible debt. There were only a few kids in my class that had braces when I was Meagan's age. Now Meagan's like one of the few that doesn't/hasn't had braces. She doesn't even have all her adult teeth in yet.
She'd probably need a couple pulled to fit them all in her mouth. My teeth are relatively even but because my mouth is narrow it pushes the front teeth forward. They don't go straight down but out away from my jaw. When I was a kid I hated the way it looked. I had to teach myself to pull my lower lip over them because kids were making fun of me because of the buck teeth.
Now, it's not so much about the looks as the bite issues. It's a pain to eat certain things and it's messed the alignment up in my jaw. I think my lower jaw needs to come forward and my upper teeth need to be pulled back. I had my wisdom teeth out when I was 21. The top ones broke through on the sides and I kept biting the inside of my cheek until it was raw and bleeding and I couldn't eat anything any more (every time I tried to chew, I'd bite my cheek). The bottom ones were impacted so he just removed them all at the same time. But I had no dental or medical insurance so it cost me over $2500 out of pocket. For a poor college student earning minimum wage...well that was like 4 or 5 months pay. I had to charge it all (spread over 4 credit cards, maxing them all out).
Then he wanted me to come back and have my one cavity filled. I would have loved to do that since it's in one of my front teeth but the dude did not understand I was broke. He argued with me until the receptionist came in and confirmed I had maxed out all my credit cards and had no other money (they wouldn't offer me a line of credit either). Then he finally let me go. I've never had any fillings and, as far as I know, I only have that one cavity and I'm almost 35. And it doesn't even look as bad as it did back then. Shrug. It doesn't bother me so I just don't think about it.
Apparently my kids didn't get my good teeth because Brenna needs 2 cavities filled and a couple more sealed. I'm sure the other kids have similar problems but even with our dental insurance we can't afford it right now. As long as they aren't causing her pain...she'll have to make do.
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My husband's teeth are okay only because he gets an extra dental visit every year that isn't covered by the dental insurance, and he brushes using a flouride rinse to avoid using toothpaste which is too abrasive for him to use. Apparently he inherited rather weak-willed enamel on his teeth. Eldest daughter has inherited that, and has already had a root canal and a cap put in. Only Son got my teeth, and hasn't had to worry as much.
My husband's aunt (whose boys are 25 and 30 now I think) says she regrets getting her kids orthodontia now. She doesn't believe that their teeth and bites were disfunctional enough to make it a real necessity, and she says that it robbed their faces of character.