For the last 18 years of my life I have been tied to a retainer and a secret. Although, over the last few years I have been open and honest about my secret I haven't truly shown the world it. I felt it would be great to start a blog about my experience as a young man who has gone through life with a retainer and a secret. I have many great stories and struggles to share from my life that I hope will entertain some of you and maybe help others. It is never easy living life with a secret, but sometimes you get away with it......
This is how it all began......
It was summer back in 1992. I remember it well, because I remember it was an after dinner bike ride. Plus, I remember the smell of the air. I don't know about you, but there is something about the different seasons that I can relate to with smells in the air. All I know was that it was great, because my parents would let me go back outside after dinner for a late night time with friends. Typically, that wasn't the case the rest of the year as it would get dark way to early. It was a beautiful evening and some of the best times to go out bike riding with friends.
I had a pretty sweet BMX racing bike. I loved that bike because it was unique. Most of my friends had the bikes that when you rocked your pedals back you would stop. To me that was pretty cool, because you could race pretty fast slam on the brakes, and do a 180 stop. On the other side my bike was great for racing. There wasn't to many that could beat me in a race. Plus it had style. It had the black and white checkered paint with a large BMX logo on the side. My dad brought that bike home shortly after I learned to ride my friends bikes in like 1st grade. My dad was always great at getting me something with style and this was the perfect fit for me. He was also good at making sure safety was first. I had the cool fingerless gloves that protected your hands if you took a spill on the ground. I had a goofy white helmet, that my parents forced me to wear no matter what, because it protected my head. It was a great fit for me! All I know was that I had the coolest bike on the block. At least for a 7 year old that is!
So on this warm early summer evening my buddy Young and I went out for an after dinner ride. Like I said it was a beautiful evening. The smell of summer in the air, and another school year coming to an end. Well, as with any kids we all like to trade things and used our friends stuff. On this particular day I decided to ask Young if he wanted to trade bikes. Till this day I don't know what made me want to trade. Like I said I had the stylish bike where as Young had this beat up old school banana seat bike. I still remember it well.... it was blue with the handle bars that came up and towards you. The kind you find on really old bikes that were made for someone to sit proper. It is the kind that keeps your hands close to the body. Where most bikes today are just a straight bar from left to right that keep your arms out to the sides. It really was one of the worst bikes on the block. (Sorry Young if you read this.) For some reason I wanted to ride it that night, and with it came the next 21 years of dental work I would endure.
Young of course said he would love to trade. Probably, because he could ride in style with my BMX bike, and I could look like a goof ball on this banana seat bike. We start to ride up the road towards Young's house and we get about half way there when I decided to hit the road. What I recall till this day is the handle bars turning sideways on me and the force of the bike sending me forward. I am sure some of you have flipped over the handle bars before and know the sensation of being thrown over. I remember heading over the bars and seeing the ground come closer and closer to my face. As I come to contact point with the ground I hit it hard with my chin. My teeth slammed together, and all I feel is the warm sensation of the cement on my face. I began to get up not crying but I am in a lot of pain and I start checking my chin to see if I am cut pretty bad, but there is nothing to serious. Then it all begins! I go to open my mouth and talk when all of the sudden part of my tooth falls out of my mouth, and I am gushing blood. I do what any 7 year old would do and freak out screaming. I go running to the first house I see. I knock on the door and of course nobody is there. So I run a couple houses up to my good buddies Jason and Jeremy and pound on the door.Their parents open the door to see me in pain and blood and run and call 911. They get a hold of my mom and wait to wave the fire department over. Of course minutes later the fire department is at the house and 5 guys come running up to check me out. I still till this day don't know what happened to Young in all of this, but he was gone quickly afterwards. People head over to the area I had the accident and search for the tooth that fell out. As the medics see how I am doing they calm me down, and find no reason to send me to the ER. The search party doesn't find the part of the tooth that I lost. my mom then gets an emergency dentist ready and we head straight over to get work done on my mouth
My mom and I head to the dentist. This was my first real experience with any dentist and I don't remember it well. All I remember is that I was stuck in a dental chair for what seemed like hours. It hurt, cause I was in so much pain from the crash and on top of that this guy is trying to do some pretty intense dental work on me. toi finish it off it was one of the worst days of my entire life. We find out that night that I have killed the front tooth on my left side and badly chipped the one on the right. This to say that helmets should come with a massive pad for the strap so that if you flip over a bike you don't do damage to your mouth. Since the only thing that hurt me was in the one area that wasn't protected. Thus the journey begins with "my life attached to a retainer and a secret."
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