Yep, it's true...

I have braces. again.
(They are the tooth colored kind, so they really aren't very distracting and aren't that bad at all)

Let me guess, you are thinking "WHAT? Jessica, you're teeth were so good. You have a beautiful smile. (blah, blah, blah)"

Yes, once upon a time, they were really straight. So straight and perfect (well, not quite, but straighter than they were more recently) that I was vain about it. I was so thankful that I had straight teeth after my first experience with orthodontics, I wore my retainers every day, all day, for 2 years. Then I wore my retainers every night until about a year ago. I stopped wearing them because the bottom one was broken to almost nothing and the top one didn't fit, due to the arrival of my wisdom teeth. Plus, I thought, "I probably don't need to wear these anymore." Now I see instead of stopping, I probably should have just got new retainers. Hindsight - 20/20.

Anyways, fast forward a few months, and I start to notice that my teeth are doing things I don't like. The top ones are sticking out more, the bottoms are getting a little crooked. Argh.

I won't share every little detail about why I decided to do braces instead of Invisalign instead of just not doing anything at all, but why did I get braces you still wonder? Because, I want straight teeth and braces was the option that would allow us to address the main issue of why my teeth had moved - my tongue. So in addition to braces I also have a somewhat large metal device in my mouth that as of right now helps me have a really awesome lisp - which should hopefully become less of a lisp soon - and also prevents me from pushing my tongue up against my teeth. It shouldn't be a long process, maybe a year - cross your fingers - or less - double cross your fingers.

I'm gonna have a killer awesome smile.

In the mean time, I've thought of some other "reasons" I've considered sharing with people, if they were to ask :-)

- I was just getting to be so awesome, I needed to be humbled a little bit.
- I was getting asked out by so many guys, I figured me having braces might encourage them to ask out some other girls.
- It's an experiment in unnecessary pain.
- I want to relate to my elementary students more.
- My life was going so well, I figured it was time to mix things up a little bit.
- I'm really afraid of kissing someone, and I thought braces might help prevent that from happening.
- I had nothing better to do with my money.

Any other good reasons, please share. Hope you are well!