Today I woke my daughter early to take her to the dentist for a cleaning. She is home on break from college and sleeping in is a protected pleasure. I ignored her grumping in the car, as I demonstrated the skillful driving that enabled me to hit every red light between home and Bellevue. The only green we saw for 15 miles looked like a tree. Checking in, book in-hand ready to pass an hours’ time, the receptionist informed me that I was the patient, not Maggie. The kid spent her morning in the waiting room, sans breakfast, while I spent two hours listening to my dentist say “Wow, this cavity is much bigger than shown on the x-ray”. See what I mean by non-linear? By 11:00, I was to have read a number of chapters in a book but by the time 11:00 rolled around, my face had blown up like a toad and my daughter was getting miffed at my multiple apologies.