When I disappear...

I was told in January, actually the Summer of 2020 that I needed extensive dental work. The wreck in 2019 put tiny hair line cracks in my teeth under my crowns. I was pretty much in constant infection state, gross I know.  lol I started going to a dentist to get some things repaired in 2020 and then I reopened the business and all of my efforts went into an insane year of trying to start over, what teeth? ha ha In January, they told me it was urgent and my dental bill would be $22,000 and the bone grafts would be done elsewhere, implants, etc, closing in on $30,000. False teeth will never be an option because of the shape of my mouth. That's another story. lol My friend in Puerto Penasco, Mexico kept insisting I could get it all done there for at least half the price.  I applied for a credit card and with a $7000 balance, I decided to take her up on her offer and drive to Mexico and get the work done. Everything I read, it seemed to be true. 3 or 4 days and back home, no problem! 

I had these fantasies lol  On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair..... um no. Scared to death, Joshua and I headed over the border. I think I drove 40 mph the whole way from Gila Bend to a little town called Ajo. With only our birth certificates and ID's lol  We stop to fill up the tank in Ajo and I said, what do I need to know? He said, You are about to drive through Senoyta, if you make it through there, you are good. Wear your masks through town, do not go one mile over 40 Kilometers or you will get stopped and extorted lol Donate to the people holding the red cross boxes and the police should leave you alone. Fully stop at stop signs, don't breathe lol My friend sent me an fb pin to where she lives. We drive 20 mph to the border trying to breathe. ha ha  We got to the border, they made us get out and checked the car, Our dog Jasmin made them not waste a lot of time, We get over the border, into Senoyta and Josh said, oh man, we ARE in another country. There's not one word we recognize. I knew ALTO meant STOP lol  K2 loaded my phone with an app 30 minutes before we left and said, Mom learn Spanish quick. There were people trying to wash our windows, selling things, at our windows, only tourists were driving a snails pace while locals zoomed by us going the wrong way 50 miles an hour. We finally got through Senoyta and YEAH! So we drove 80 miles into Mexico, can't read the road signs, nothing. lol  We get there, it's called the Arizona Ocean so it's got to be more progressive right? Nope? The second we hit Puerto Penasco our phones quit working. Josh had pinned Donia's business, Supping The Sea before we crossed the border. He got us to her street. We sit there with no addresses wondering which one was hers, for probably an hour. ha. No phones. Beautiful houses with dirt streets and 10 foot gates around every house. lol and there we are. I finally saw Paddle boards in a garage, and Donia walked out the front door. SO GLAD TO SEE HER!!  

We unpacked the car, my dental appointment was the next day.  I nervously, have a map and drive to the dentist the next morning....aaahhhhh....in Puerto Pensaco there are no driving laws I could see, no speed signs, multipole ALTO signs that were in weird places lol  The train just flies through town with no warning but the ALTO sign and the tracks. No ding ding ding...lol Big eyes. I get there and it's closed.I go next door to a market, no one speaks English. I go back to Donia's and look at their website. Closed for Bonito Juarez's birthday. I snap. lol  That night the dentist calls and says to come in the next morning. The next morning he does the exam, tells me $8800, I'm going to make 2 trips, because the implants need 3 months to heal. I go to the front desk and she says the entire procedure will be $13,000 in the end. I said, I have $7000 on a Discover card will you take that? She said, Of Course! You can pay the rest when you come back. lol  Well, I'm there, the credit card was a miracle, I'll figure it out. 

I go back to Donia's amazing house and we go to eat on the beach at a bar and watch the ocean and well, I'm pretty much having a nervouse break down, but Donia is the most supportive person in the world, she said, it will be alright, I believed her.  I go in the next day, they tore apart my crowns on the bottom, whittled all of my existing teeth down, do an implant, I think I was in there 4 hours, I walk out with a temporary on the bottom and pain beyond all pain. I give her my discover card and it won't work. lol 2 days later, they do more. It's all a blur, I was supposed to be back by the time they were only through one day of surgery.  12 hours and 2 weeks later, I walked out with full crowns, upper and lower, and two implants that need three months to heal and ow. and a root canal. and gum work and OY! It also took that long to figure out how to get that damn Discover card to work in Mexico.  I woke up every morning and sit on her beautiful patio and smelled the sea air. Donia is an Alpha, I'm an Alpha, but not under immense pain, I'm not. So, I just did what Donia told me to do. The day are the 5 hour surgery, she sit my on the end of a paddle board and took me to the middle of the ocean to heal me, she stood up and paddled, I just sit there watching very large creatures swimming below us and trusting her. She was a Taos River guide and I knew her skills, but in the middle of an ocean? She's amazing! Her husband cooked for us every night and I drank yogurt most days. lol  Did I mention I was on Mexican antibiotics for 2 weeks?? lol Couldn't read that box either. lol

I go back in July.  I apologize for being mysterious, my phone flipped to all spanish, I could barely get it to work on her wifi, so I wasn't able to communicate. Other than email and fb instant messenger. lol I couldn't even check my finances, so Thank you for ordering, you were my miracle!  When I finish this, I will get to work on the orders.  

If you ever decide to go to Mexico for dental work. Call your cell company, buy the international plan, be fluid, take coffee, buy pesos at your bank before you go, KNOW that whatever you think is going to happen down there is not even going to be something that you can wrap your mind around. ha ha I had a fabulous 2 weeks in paradise, that made up for the pain and confusion. If there is ANYTHING you are attached to in America, bring it with you. lol Trust the dentist, while the way they did things were confusing, I have never had such a wonderful experience as I did at Estrada Family Denistry. Wonderful people, gentle as it gets, nothing like the cold atmosphere in the US. I have a big white smile now...lol  He considers himself a cosmetic specialist also, so he picked the color A1 Natural, and widened my smile a bit. I have not one single bad tooth in my head, they are all healthy, this is the first time in my life, I have had perfect teeth. I can think, the headaches are gone, I haven't even worn my glasses since they did the work. I feel so much better, the healing continues and pain, but I know I am bruised and that takes time.  

I gotta get to work. 

I don't know if some of you remember, but for 20 years of business, I had more integrity to my clients than I had to myself. I couldn't take a day off, demand called for me to do nothing but work.  I stopped doing that.  I have more integrity to myself, I am taking care of myself and I have learned to embrace the moments when a friend stops by, or a Son needs a day of mental health or fun or to talk, embrace those moments of LIFE! Work is not life....  Live, we all should have learned to at least live in the past few years. I am the only person who makes everything and sells it and does the janitor work, the marketing, the bookkeeping and the communication.  I can't stop making soap to respond to instant messenger. lol  I think people forget it's just one lady doing all of this. They would talk to me nicer if they remembered that. If I hadn't gotten a couple of crappy emails I wouldn't be writing all of this.  We owe you our WHOLE life, us business owners? hrmmm...

Big Love ~ I wish you blessings, thank you for being my blessing.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to those who support with sweetness and encourage me.