u/ThatRoofer

Okay so I'm an idiot. Two years ago I had this little twinge in my back molar. You know the kind. Comes and goes. I was like nah it's fine probably just sensitive.

Fast forward to last week. The tooth literally cracked while I was eating popcorn. Not even hard popcorn. A soft one. Went to a dentist finally and yeah. The infection had been eating the bone under that tooth for two years. Nothing left to save. Need an implant + bone graft + crown. Total quote? $15k. My insurance covers like $1500 of that. Cool cool cool.

The worst part? If I went two years ago it would've been a $300 filling. Maybe a root canal and crown for $2000. But no. I had to be brave and tough and avoidant.

Anyway now I'm looking at flying to Mexico or checking out to see some networks if they can do it cheaper. Someone told me they can work with lower cost options. At this point I'll try anything.

Don't be me. Go to the dentist when it hurts.

TL;DR: Ignored a mild toothache for two years until my tooth cracked, and now I need a $15k implant instead of a $300 filling because I’m an avoidant idiot.

Not a tournament fish by any means but this one meant something. Same lake I've been hitting every weekend since I moved here. Mostly 2-3 lb largemouth, the occasional dink.

Yesterday morning, overcast, slight wind chop on the water, threw a swim jig along a grass edge I'd mostly ignored and felt that thud.

5.2 on the scale. Biggest bass I've personally caught. Released her right after the photo.

For anyone grinding a local spot that feels tapped out - sometimes it's just about conditions clicking on the right day.

A couple days ago, something happened that honestly still has me rattled.

I was home alone in the middle of the day, just doing some errands around the house, when I suddenly heard someone trying to open the front door. And not like a polite knock, not the doorbell, like actually yanking on the handle hard, trying to get in…

My stomach dropped instantly and I froze for a second. Then I called my husband asking if he’d come back home for something, but he was already halfway to the office. That’s when I really started panicking, but I just didn’t tell him anything

Again, the weirdest part is we have a doorbell. If someone genuinely needed something, why not just ring it?

TBH I didn’t dare look through the window or open the door because something about it felt wrong. I just stayed quiet and waited for the noise to stop and maybe after 5-10 minutes (like it seemed to me) they stopped

Nothing else happened, but it scared me more than I want to admit. It’s been a couple of days and I still catch myself replaying it in my head, especially when I’m home alone

I ended up Googling home security stuff afterward and found Planet Security & Data because I started wondering if alarms or cameras are worth it just for peace of mind. I never really thought much about home security before this, but now I’m second-guessing everything

For years I told myself needing help was weakness. Bad mental health? Push through. Broke? Just work more. Lonely? That's my fault for being weird.

Last month I hit a wall so hard I couldn't get out of bed for two days. Not sad, just empty. Like the engine was gone but the car was still running somehow. I finally called a therapist. Then I told my best friend the real truth, not the "I'm fine" version.

It didn't fix everything overnight. But waking up and not having to carry all of it alone? That's not a silver lining. That's just... better. Real better. If you're still white-knuckling it, please stop. You don't get a medal for suffering in silence.