I have a tin grin. I realize I'm a little bit older (OK, a lot) than the average orthodonic patient, but it should help me with some issues I am having with my jaw and teeth. At least that's what the dentist told me.

The next 18 months of wearing metal in my mouth are stretched out ahead of me like a never-ending train track -- literally. It's hard to see the end from here. And at my age, 18 months seems like a lifetime.

I have been down this road before, and I wasn't too thrilled when I was a teen and wore braces for more than three years. I am no happier about it now.

I just have to look at it the way my parents told me to years ago: by thinking of the end result. That's what I used to tell my kids when they had to do something they didn't want to do. (I am turning into my mother.)

Meanwhile, I feel like I've entered my second childhood. Between brackets, special toothbrushes and water picks, wax for sore gums and tablets to turn the places on your teeth red if they aren't brushed correctly, it is like deja vu all over again.

I debated about doing this for quite some time. I know when I am done I will be glad, but the initial process is not on my list of favorite things to do -- not even at the bottom.

I find myself covering my mouth so no one will see my teeth when I smile, and I just know it makes my speech sound different. But I guess that's because I expect it to sound different.

I guess I am self-conscious because I feel too old to be doing this at this stage of my life.

But the dirty deed is done. I haven't even had the braces for a week, and already I am wondering if I made the right decision.

The good thing is that I don't have to face the meanness of schoolchildren who love to taunt others who belong to the braces club.

The bad thing is that when I was growingup,notonlywasIamemb er of the braces club, but I wore glasses as well. Talk about feeling like the ugly duckling.

Well, I still wear glasses, but with recent advances in lenses they are much smaller now -- some might even say "stylish." Hey, you have to grab the compliments when you can, even if they come from oneself.

I just hope I can get through this next year and a half with my self-esteem intact. I couldn't when I was a teen. I lived for the day I would get the braces off. Well, I am living for that day again. Talk about your pipe dreams.

And I hope I don't hear any derogatory remarks about my metal mouth this time around. Even though I am older and am supposed to be able to deal with it like an adult, it might be a lot harder to take. And remember, what goes around comes around.

So, there!

Lisa Carnley is managing editor of the Lampasas Dispatch Record.