I got to thinking about getting in trouble. I’ve always been afraid of getting in trouble, doing the wrong thing. I am notoriously into rules and following authority. In elementary school, there were yellow cards and red cards. My goody-two-shoes nature helped me stray from the card system. I couldn’t face the humiliation of getting in trouble. While that certainly isn’t a bad thing, it also gets in the way of every day things that happen without warning. What am I talking about? Cavities.

I always thought that people who got cavities didn’t take care of their teeth. I’m obsessed with my straight (created by the miracle that are braces) teeth. I work hard to keep my chompers clean and white. I follow every rule WebMD has on preventing cavities. And guess what? My worst nightmare came true: I have a cavity. I feel like I just got a red card by my fifth grade teacher. I did something bad. How could I do this to myself? Could I have prevented it? Probably not. I really did do everything right. It’s just inevitable for most of us. But I never wanted to be ‘most of us.’ That’s another nightmare. Regularity is boring and just not for me. And here I am: REGULAR. I blame myself for this cavity. To be honest, I want to cry my eyes out when I think of what I’ve done. I got in trouble by the dentist. And I can’t go back. This red card is following me for the rest of my life…