A Tale of TWO Girls Getting Braces

I know the old wives' tale is that things tend to "come in threes" ...

unless you are in the Meehan family--then they come in twos and sixes.

Yup, yesterday BOTH Zu and Lu began their braces treatment ... bringing our family's total orthodontic treatments to SIX. (Papaya actually gave us a break and didn't need braces, but Jay had them TWICE. His teeth are extra straight.)

It's funny. The girls were sooo excited to begin their braces.

And yet as we sat in the orthodontist's office yesterday, I couldn't help but think how kind of unreal it is to live in a country where our teeth are not only cared for regularly, but straightened when they are out of alignment. 

And still most of Planet E still lives without clean water.

The disparity in First-World living vs. Developing-World living is sometimes mind-boggling.

Actually, MOST of the time it's mind-boggling.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I find it hard to reconcile how birthplace determines so much of our quality of life.

While Americans are not immune from unfair and unacceptable living conditions, on the whole our country is a country of privilege. Our basic needs may/can be met here: 

--sanitation, \

--indoor plumbing, 

--clean water, 

--health care, 

--clothing, 

--housing, 

--organized government, 

--transportation,
--democracy,
--public education 

... and on and on and on.

And while I don't have any of the answers to this disparity in life-experiences, I have SO many questions.

I guess my thoughts yesterday were two-fold:

1. Straight teeth are pretty cool.

2. Dawn, you best be grateful and willing to live a generous life, because there are people literally all over the earth who deserve better.

Okay, I'm jumping off my existential soapbox now.

Have a beautiful day.

*****

And now, some of the other things that make me grateful this week:

1. This hilarious picture of our dog Harriet--and the fact that Lu took it.
(She takes about 1,000 photos a day. For reals.)

2. This cage--which protects Amelia the guinea pig from CityKitty.
(CityKitty is just babysitting, really.)

3. The Y mountain in Fall. (This mountain is incredible all year long, but in Fall it is AWE-SOME.)