I have had toothache for a week. I had some fillings done last week and they seem to have upset the balance in my mouth causing all sorts of exciting secondary complications (sounds good, don’t know what I really mean). I don’t think that I have ever had toothache in my life before. I now understand and can have compassion on those who suffer from the problem. The only tooth pain I have ever had was the result of a flirting injury! For some or other reason I was playing hockey with a couple of girls. A ball was lifted towards the goals and one of the girls took a massive swing, I mean this was a goal she was going to score! Fortunately for the ball, she missed. My front tooth on the other hand took a beating, jumped out of my mouth and lay on the ground in surrender. This random act of senseless violence went rather unnoticed in the media. I mean my tooth died out there on that hockey field. I made a decision there and then that this fledgling romance was not for me. Girl with stick – 1, boy without tooth – 0! So the extent of my tooth pain has been pretty sudden and bloody. This new tooth pain is rather annoying and incessant. I have no doubt that it should be banned together with our Government’s thinking on corporal punishment! Fear not I am tough – I managed to raid my wife’s supply of amazing drugs in the wee hours of the morning. Now I am bulletproof!

My family came over to visit this weekend which was wonderful. Living in 2 different cities, far apart, makes one really appreciate your family when you see them. On a heavier note, my mother told me about a family friend whose daughters have both been diagnosed with an auto immune disease. This is hectic stuff. The one daughter has suffered for some time with the disease but the second daughter has just found out that she has the same thing. The mother is rather upset and I get the feeling that she blames herself for passing on the bad genes that have resulted in this disease. What a sad and difficult situation. Here is my view. I really believe that our children have been loaned to us as gifts from God, and that it is up to us to simply love them. As terrible as the situation is, I cannot see how a mother can blame herself for something she had no control over (I mean who does DNA checks to see if you should have kids before you have kids?). I understand that there are a whole lot of emotions involved and that this is a terrible situation. On the positive side, she has done her best to be a mother to her children for many years. I have no doubt that they are going to both need her more than ever now. I would think that her kids would not have had it any other way, i.e. I got the bad genes but I also got you as a mother. This sounds very much like a live for the moment view (I almost wrote love for the moment – perhaps that is truer!). To take this further, what is more important, that we had life and loved or that we had a long life and loved?