A VISIT FROM THE TOOTH FAIRY

When I was little and lost a tooth, I would place it under my pillow. In the night, the “tooth fairy” would visit, take the tooth and, in its place leave a quarter or perhaps a Kennedy half-dollar if it was a particularly fabulous specimen. When I became a parent, I became impressed with the stealth with which this operation took place. I hope I’m not letting the cat out of the bag here but….WE had to be the tooth fairy and Mark and I were NOT worthy of the responsibility. Tooth fairy at our house was lame. We suggested the tooth be placed in a bowl of water on Monica’s dresser. On occasion, the tooth fairy “forgot”. Explanation: “Well, honey, I’m betting a LOT of kids lost teeth yesterday and she just couldn’t keep up. I’m SURE she’ll make it tonight”. That happened more than once and she always showed up the second night. On at least one occasion, the tooth fairy actually visited while Monica was eating breakfast….she’s THAT good. (*Whew*). As time went on, I learned to put money in my pocket as soon as I knew the tooth would be left. Since I don’t usually have cash in my pocket, it would serve as a reminder to do the big switch before we turned in.

Fast forward to years later when Monica informed us that she once had seen the tooth fairy. Can you see the panic in our eyes? What could she have seen? Well, lets just say that Mark’s pajamas are the ones in which he came from the factory. Yep, apparently, the moon was shining particularly BRIGHT on the night Monica lost her tooth. Fast forward to last week when I received this photo via e-mail. The note attached said it was a “snow angel” but Monica confirmed…it’s the tooth fairy!