Mr. Majestic - I also want to answer your question about Mike convincing me to get braces. It certainly was a long process, but that husband of mine is extremely persistent and he wore me down!
I'm going to go all the way back to our first conversation about braces. He told me he needed to tell me something, and he was clearly very nervous. It took him a long time to come out with it, and while I waited I was becoming more and more prepared for him to tell me something awful. When he finally told me he liked women in braces, I couldn't believe he had gotten so nervous over that. It didn't seem like a big deal to me. Keep in mind that at this point he wasn't asking me to get braces. He did feel me out about wearing fakes, and I told him I would be very happy to wear fakes.
I never had any objection to wearing the fakes. I can say with 100% certainty that without the fakes I wouldn't be in real braces today. Seeing the effect they had on Mike really made it fun to wear them. I didn't just wear them at home, either. We used to go to a bar near our place (but not too near) and shoot pool or watch sports about once per week. That was where we spent the majority of our public time with the fakes, and Mike and I both have very fond memories of it. My fakes were very convincing, so all of the staff members there just thought I really had braces. And they had no idea what was really going on between Mike and me - the way he was looking at me, the way I was teasing him with a smile or kiss, or the way he watched me apply my lip gloss. It was a lot of fun.
I wore the fakes for years, and have a lot of good memories because of it. One thing that Mike did was to make plans and take me to do cool things in braces. We went on lots of trips and to cool events where we included the fakes. I think over the years I came to associate the fakes with good memories more and more, and I'm quite sure that helped his case for the real things. One thing about Mike, though, is if he decides he wants to do something with me in braces, he follows through. He doesn't just talk about the things he might like to do some day, he makes them happen.
When he first started talking to me about real braces, I found it very upsetting. I considered this very different from wearing fakes. For a long time he thought I didn't feel as confident in braces, but that's not the case at all. One of my biggest hesitataions was that I already had really straight teeth. I didn't like the idea of having to give some fake answer when people asked me why got them. When I wore the fakes, it was around people we didn't know, so they didn't know what my teeth looked like before, and there was no need to explain. What I've realized since, though, is that most people just don't care. They don't care what my teeth looked like before or why I have braces. I have had several people point out that my teeth were already really straight, and it's still not my favorite conversation to have, but I know what to say and I get through it just fine.
I think one thing that really helped in convincing me was when Mike finally agreed to let me tell my best friend about it. For all the years I wore the fakes, no one knew about it except Mike and me. That was fine with the fakes, but I was having a really hard time thinking of going through this whole process without having a girlfriend I could talk to about it. I just wanted one person who was in on the secret. Plus I really didn't want to have to lie to her about why I was getting treatment. That was really a turning point for me. I told her about it, and then I put my fakes in to show her. She's a pretty open minded girl, and I knew she wouldn't judge. I know it was really hard for Mike to let go of that control, but I'm not sure I would have gotten to this point if he hadn't.
You probably weren't expecting a novel for an answer, but I hope you find my experiences helpful. Before making the decision, Mike also put me in contact with friend's wife who got braces for the same reason. It was definitely helpful to hear her perspective. She had very positive things to say about the experience. I would be happy to do the same for any other wives or girlfriends out there.
And now we are headed out to the pool to enjoy Sunday Funday with lots of sun and white sangria.
