Brace Face

I really enjoying writing about past experiences, and thought it would be fun to bring something back from childhood. So, a middle school story was in order.

Braces. Every teenager’s worst nightmare, and a day I remember so well. I was pulled out of school at the end of second period band practice (I begged to go, yes- I was a band geek for about five years). When my mom picked me up outside the school office, she presented me with a Paul Frank t-shirt with Julius the monkey on it smiling with a mouth full of metal, which I put on immediately. Paul Frank was probably my favorite brand of clothing at the time.

I sat down in an extremely uncomfortable green leather chair- a chair I would not get out of for almost an hour and a half. I had color options for the stretchy bands, and opted for pink and blue, something I do not recommend for the first time. I would suggest grey or clear, since the hot pink and bright blue may come as shock upon first glance.

Since my mouth felt like somebody had tied fifty pounds onto each tooth, we went to Chompie’s where I enjoyed a delicious slurpable bowl of matzo ball soup. I went to bed that night with a mouth full of wax covered teeth, since my mouth was so sensitive to the metal at first. The next day at school, when I placed my lips to my trumpet mouthpiece, I could barely make a single toot. It took some getting use to learning how to play with metal bars against brass, since it basically felt like a strangers lips were attached to my face. I essentially had to learn how to play all over again. A few weeks passed, I had adapted to my new set of bling, and all was well in the world of band once again.