Celebrating the Little Things

I did it!!! Well I didn't really do anything except pay for it...but for me that was a great accomplishment.  Today I took my oldest son to the Orthodontist and he finally had his braces removed! Celebrate! 

It has been a process that started when he was 8 or 9, we could not really remember, with all the different stages.  We had just begun the full braces when the world changed for us, so needless to say I still had them to pay for.  You can't just stop in the middle and tell the Dr. to take them off because you can't afford to pay for them. 

One lump sum to start with and then a very large coupon book.  The payment was enough for a small used car.  Many months it was late and in actuality I went beyond the original payment terms but I finally got them paid for earlier this year.  I thought that was a great accomplishment until I got to see my son smile with a beautiful, straight and healthy smile.

I am sure he is glad to finally get them off, but I am the one who feels like doing cart wheels.  To me it means so much more.  It means that I was able to do what I needed to do to get them paid for, drive him back and forth every 5 to 6 weeks for all those appointments and make sure we did everything we were supposed to do to end up with a healthy smile.  It is a seemingly small accomplishment, yet for me it feels so important, I am sure when I look back on all of this there will be many, but for right now it is one of the tangible ones that I can be proud of.  

Someone told me last week that I am doing a great job and someday my kids will tell me that they appreciate everything I did.  However, they also said it probably will not be for another 5 or 10 years.  If that is indeed the case, then I have to take those feelings of accomplishment whenever and wherever I can get them.  These are the things that get me through the days when nothing seems to be going my way.

It also means that more time has passed and we are another milestone closer to my husband coming home, although he will only see the smile in pictures for now.  The picture of his new smile is already in the mail and on the way to Dad so he can see it to.  It is a time to celebrate an accomplishment, in this time of our lives we look for reasons to celebrate anything. 

I need to hang on to this feeling for a long time, because although my daughter does not need braces, (yeah!) my youngest probably will.  So I am already planning 1 to 2 years ahead to prepare for the cost.  I would love to pay once and be done, but it is nice to know that if I need to makes payments I can.  I just hope all the work and effort lasts longer than the small used car I could have bought.