One of a Moment

One of my colleague wanted to see my dentist today and I had to accompany her. It was for her crooked teeth. She had been wearing braces for the past two years and her teeth is still not in place. I once had mentioned that I used to wear braces about fourteen years ago and my teeth flashed a beautiful smile then. Being a Professor and the Principal of a prominent dental college, my doctor is very good at the art of dentistry and his only case of failure could have been me. I did not follow up after the treatment and my teeth again got crowded and gave me the smile- as someone called it once- land mine blasted mouth.  

Anyways, the moment my doctor saw her teeth, he chided her for not taking care of it also her doctor for making spoiling her teeth. He challenged and gave her a target date of three months to bring that 'beautiful' smile. 

All along I was there standing and watching him give her hope and make her smile. Then out of instinct- I turned myself to the mirror and saw my crooked teeth. I was wondering should I go for braces too. The first question is- Am I too old to have it? Are my teeth strong enough for another six months of grinding and moving around?

More than the obvious advantage of having a good smile- I've always had a complex that my teeth line is ugly which I thought I would ward off. I've crossed the age where I would be hurt if someone says I'm ugly because of my teeth. I don't need a good teeth to impress anyone.

The only concern is- I have seen all my senior managers and their managers- they all have nice smile with good teeth. Is that a necessity to gain respect among peers. If I have a crooked teeth are they going to call me- 'oh yea that manager with that ugly teeth', will this make me less respectable? worse, will this hamper my growth? I'm sure am becoming silly and overly conscious about looks but am not able to help but think about it. 

I wanted to ask these to someone and I know there is only one I could have discussed this with. A very silly talk on a very silly topic may be. But nevertheless I would have talked to him about it. He would have either said- its silly or may be I should go for it. The chances of taking his words are very less but I still thought he could have given me some insights on how people gauge others at work and whether looks play an important role in it. 

On the way back home, the only thing that I could think about is- how much I miss him.

This is just one of a moment that I've gone through a million times in the past few days.

Moments will fade away- time will heal me. He is an entity- forever in me.