Day 67: Seeking a Sign, and Regretting It

So, as you all know, I have been having a bit of a tough time the last few weeks with the diet.  As many of you also know, I am a bit of a religious man.  So a few days ago, as I was in the depths of my sorrows over not getting to eat what ever I wanted to, I decided to pray about the diet.  I know that to some of you this may seem ridiculous, but honestly, I was at my wits end.  I really didn't know if it was worth continuing torturing myself.  I mean, body image is not really everything, is it?  I can be fat, happy, and a positive contributor to the community.

As I was praying, I asked for a sign.  I said, "Lord, if it is okay to stop this diet, just say so and I will go and get one of those peppermint shakes at Chic-Fil-A."  (This really shows how desperate I was.  I have HATED peppermint ever since the Christmas of 1992, when I had some peppermint ice cream and threw it up everywhere.  It was the last time I threw up, so I remember the experience well.  Actually, it is kind of funny because I also threw up once after eating about two pounds of cheddar cheese when I was in Park City, Utah.  This was back in the day when you could sit on your parent's lap in the car and half way home I got sick and threw up all over my mother--with about an hour left in the drive home.  Ahh, aren't mothers great?  Despite that experience, I still love cheddar cheese.)

Anyway, you know how you really shouldn't ask for answers to things you already know the answer to?  Well, the evening I asked for my sign, I got a toothache.  By about 3 a.m., the toothache was really bad.  By 4 p.m., I finally called the dentist and set something up for this morning.  As I was driving to the dentist, I realized that this was the sign.  Of course, it wasn't the sign I had intended (I really am partial to the angel visitation/clouds parting type of vision, not the personal, physical pain kind), but it was the sign.  Why do we get toothaches?  Because of tooth decay.  How does tooth decay happen?  Only one thing:  sugar (okay, not flossing or brushing contribute too, but we need not go there).  Let's just be honest here, if I wasn't on the diet, I would be eating sugar as I write this blog entry.  I would be drinking it on the way to work tomorrow morning, I would be pouring it over my already sweetened cereal I eat, and I would be growing it in the back yard.

I thought as I drove to the dentist, this is what I have to look forward to if I start eating candy again.  So, I went in to the dentist, fearing a root canal or something awful.  The dentist took an X-ray, prodded around my teeth for a while, and then told me that there was nothing wrong.  I asked why I had all the pain, and he said that "at my age" sometimes teeth act up and that I have to take extra good care of them.  I kind of wondered what he meant by "at my age" (I mean, come on, I am not 97 or something).  I think he could tell what I was thinking, and so then he backtracked and said it could be my sinuses.  In the end, there was nothing he could do.  I left the office still in pain (actually, I am still in pain now) and went home.  I stayed there all day, just laying around in my misery and discomfort.

So, my friends, lesson learned.  The pain of not eating a peppermint milkshake is nothing like the pain of a toothache.  I will not be asking for any more signs to confirm questions I already know the answers to.  I am sticking with the diet.