14 May: After reading my entry, One Rule too Far, one of my grandchildren, aged 12, phoned me and in a puzzled voice, asked

Granny, why weren’t you allowed to floss?

I didn’t want to go into all the details, as it’s very much in the past now, so I brushed it off with trite comments about risk and staying well.

He persisted.

 But how would flossing harm you?

I think the doctors didn’t want to take any chances. They were just concerned that it might be a wrong thing to do for a while.

That’s cruel. Flossing has always made you happy. Is that why you insisted that you weren’t going to stop? Did you tell them that I taught you to floss? That you floss with all your grandchildren? That we have flossing competitions? Is that why they agreed?

Of course!  Flossing is the dance THEY do; WE talk about flossing teeth.

I was really moved by this – by his pondering why, in a critical time in my life, I was asked not to dance.

It’s a beautiful world after all.