Roots

Day Two of dental recovery clinic. My daughters are in terrible pain, their faces badly swollen, their mouths bruised and bleeding.

I feel almost equally miserable; helpless and guilty. Was this necessary? How could I have willingly walked my two beautiful, healthy children into a clinic and had their teeth ripped out? I allowed this pain to be inflicted upon them. Yes, I saw the X-rays. Molars pressing into the neighboring teeth. But wasn't it only a potential problem? Should we have waited?

My girls vacillate between the tears of tormented children and the angry cussing of enraged adults. They cannot eat much, they cannot sleep. They could not be more unhappy.

The quote pictured on my magnet says that "children should get two things from their parents: roots and wings." What kind of parent digs the roots out of their children?

:(