Two biggest fears, so big as to qualify for phobias:

• Dentist
• Earthquake

And on the list of things that make me deeply uneasy:

• Large crowds
• Guns
• Supporters of the current president
• Things that interrupt my sleep

This week there was a shooting less then a block from where I work. It’s posited that reporting of the tragedy (pregnant mother and small daughter, the latter in a coma) to law enforcement was delayed because of all the illegal fireworks pretty much going off all night every night since June.

After years of steady improvement, last week I had one of the worst, most sobby, most painful dentist appointments. This appointment addressed an old filling in a tooth, the drilling of same, and the installation of a temporary crown. If it took me two pills to even get in the door, I can’t even imagine what the dentist and staff had to take to erase the memories of that fun time.

Then this week, the crown broke off and it was agreed by self and the person answering the phone for my vacationing dentist that the situation didn’t warrant emergency intervention unless it really starts hurting. So during this first week of non-foggy weather, during the week I planned to eat much barbecue, I became the ol’ biddie, gently gumming her food, head tilted, with a look of unattractive concentration on her face.

Yesterday, while nervously contemplating the Fourth of July crowds that I would have to brave while meeting friends for soft, non-barbecue invalid food, a large Independence Day earthquake rolled long and hard, the hardest I’ve felt in years. Fun, vertigo-inducing stuff! All bets off. I took to my bed, until I finally roused myself to get over to a friend’s boat for more soft food and some fireworks (legal this time).

The first slip I passed was inhabited by a large yacht and festooned from aft to stern with flags and banners professing love and support for the current president.

After a perfectly nice time with my friends (thank heavens) and successful slow chewing of actual barbecued items, I got home, took to my bed for the night, and was kept up a large portion of the night by the illegal fireworks in my annoying neighborhood.