WHAT DAY IT IS?

I’ve been phasing in and out of sleep unconsciousness for the past couple days, trying to realign my sleeping patterns with the rest of the local world. I think I went to bed at 3pm yesterday, got up at 9pm. Stayed up all night, had a dental appointment this morning. 10am sharp.

It’s about 9:25a and I’m just about ready to head out the door, when the phone rings. It’s my dentist, Dr. Ballard on the line.

“Hello?”

“Ohayo Gozaimasu!,” I hear on the other end.

“Ohayo Gozaimasu!” I reply.

See, my dentist happens to be the only-born daughter of an African-American father and Japanese mother. Although shed visited Japan, she was raised in the States, and has been taking care of her mother here in Chicago since her father passed away years ago. Dr. Ballard was recommended to me by a family friend last year. We’d met and shared our experiences about Japan and had a good conversation during my first visit to her office. I also spent a fair amount of loot during that visit too, but that’s another story. Dr. B and I clicked easily because she came across as a really warm, down-to-earth lady and a caring dentist. She’d wished me luck in Japan and told me to study hard so I could teach her some Japanese when I returned. I hadn’t seen her since last January, the last time I was home.

“I won’t be able to make it to the office this morning…My mother’s seriously ill in the hospital and I need to stay with her...”

“Really? Sorry to hear that. I hope she recovers fully.”

Bummer. I’d been looking forward to this appointment for months. A brotha’s in need of a filling.

“..I won’t be back to the office until January 6th.”

Doh! Even worse. However, Dr. B did pledge to call some of her associates on my behalf to see if I can be squeezed into someone’s schedule. Meanwhile, I have to do the same. Eh, I already know the chances of me scoring a new appointment on such short notice, AND during the holiday vacation period is gonna be pretty bleak.

“Well, sorry I didn’t get a chance to see you.. Hopefully, I’ll see you next year.”

“Yeah. Okay, thanks for calling. Happy Holidays.”

Gah, time to dig up my ex-dentist’s number.