You watch your fellow sufferers, and pick up snippets of conversation not meant for your ears

I love going to the dentist.

Okay, maybe I don’t enjoy the visit itself, but when I step outside with a bloated face, skewed lips, and zero sensation in my mouth, I cherish the relief that I don’t have to step foot into that office for a very long time.

This time, though, I wasn’t that lucky. I had to go back for more work.

Several times.

So there I was, and to add pain to agony, the waiting room was so full, I had to say my Tehillim standing.

I didn’t have an appointment. (Who willingly schedules these kind of visits, right? You wait for the morning when you wake up in such unbearable pain, you call and say, “Yes, I’ll do standby, just open the door already.”)

What do you do when you stand by? You say Tehillim, but when you reach a point where you can make a Tehillim siyum, you just stand by — and watch. You watch your fellow sufferers, and pick up snippets of conversation not meant for your ears.