Had a tooth pulled today. Planned for a month and a half, it was one of those back-to-the-wall situations: Any other option would have only led to more trouble. The tooth had to go. And so it did.
The dentist did his job like a pro, I did mine like an amateur, with a mix of resignation, dread, mild anxiety and, finally, again with my back to the wall (that is, stuck in the chair with my mouth open), simple presence. What else could I do?
It ended up not as bumpy as my expectations would have had it, which of course nothing ever is. And now hours later what was supposed to be so painful in fact is a welcome relief from the nagging pain before.
All day has been inclusive, acting according to the situation at hand: keeping appointments, making and eating soft food, little extra activity, laundry, administrative duties, responding to what arises.
Through it all, there are glimpses of the elegance of it, of extracting the roots and moving on.
What’s done is done, yet nothing is over yet.
When the tooth had to go
About the Author: zenscribe
Enseignante Zen et poète, Sensei Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell est née et a grandi à Minneapolis, aux Etats-Unis. Arrivée en France en 1981 pour étudier la littérature et l’histoire, elle y est restée, s’installant à Paris, où elle élève ses deux enfants et gagne sa vie en tant que journaliste.
The Zen teacher and poet Amy “Tu es cela” Hollowell Sensei was born and raised in Minneapolis, but came to France in 1981 to study literature and history and has lived in Paris ever since, raising her two children and making a living as a journalist.
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