Dissonance.

My jaw aches.

I roll over, sigh, and rub my jaw with my left hand. No, it's not really my jaw that aches. It isn't tender to the touch, isn't warm, and isn't swollen.

I yawn and swallow the saliva that had been building in my mouth during my jaw examination. A sharp pain shoots from my jaw to my ear.

Ah. Clenching my teeth while I slept again.

I rarely do that. Nocturanal teeth clenching, for me, occurs as often as nightmares do. Which is to say, once year at the most. Both are symptoms of a larger problem: anxiety.

No, I am not stressed about the holidays. On the contrary. It's a pending adventure that I'm truly eagerly awaiting. No, Christmas causes me no stress. We're refinancing the hosue... but that's all taken care of. The lender is sending out the checks to pay off all of our debt today, as a matter of fact. That's a relief, not a stresser. I'm not stressed at work, although-

-Pop-

Something drops onto my chest. My wife, still sleeping, has unconsciously decided that I'm a very comfortable pillow. It could be worse. I could have taken an elbow to the rib cage or a heel to the shin. My snoring has gotten worse of late thanks to Winter. It's dry. Dry air makes everything bad. My skin nearly constantly itches in the Winter thanks to the low humidity. Me scratching at it doesn't make it any better. My left arm-

-Pop-

Was that the cat? Well, one of them at any rate. I open my eyes and sure enough, a little green-eyed gray face is staring at me. It must be breakfast time. No, past breakfast time. If it were breakfast time, the cats would be bothering my wife. Since they're after me, it means they're impatient. But since it's after breakfast time, it means I'm running late.

I gently nudge cat away, roll my wife onto her side of the bed, and venture to the bathroom. I grab the toothbrush, rinse it, apply the toothpaste, and jam into my mouth. A few scrubs-

-Pop-

My jaw aches.