Teeth

I didn’t lose my first tooth until I was 8 years old. My family was vacationing in California. We were eating pizza on a pier when I excitedly told my parents my tooth was coming out. My dad took me to the other side of the pier because my mom is not so fond of blood streaming out of someone’s mouth during dinner. I returned, victorious. I had finally lost my first tooth.

I would eventually lose 5 teeth, and the last one fell out in middle school. I remember the thing finally falling out and raising my hand and the teacher looking at me in complete disbelief and then sending me to the nurse’s office. By this point in my life, it didn’t really surprise me because by then, it was clear I had odd teeth. My parents would eventually fork out thousands of dollars for dental work and my current dentist is absolutely amazed at my remaining baby teeth.

Connor has yet to lose his first tooth, though he has had an x-ray which revealed the presence of a second set of teeth. That second set of teeth is good news for my pocketbook. And I actually take it as good news that Connor still has his full set of baby teeth, because I’m hoping that means his teeth are more like my concrete teeth – seemingly impervious to day-to-day wear – instead of like Ed’s teeth, which might be made of paper towels.

This lack of teeth loss is not good news for Connor. Regularly, he asks me about ways to hasten the loss of his first tooth, and of course, I have no satisfactory answer for him. When these questions arise, I pray that his friend F., who has also not lost his first tooth, will continue to hang onto those babies, because I remember well feeling so sad about being the only person I knew who hadn’t yet lost a tooth.

So this year, just like last year, Connor will be displaying a full set of teeth for his school photo on Thursday.

Sorry, little dude. It's no fun being little and feeling behind all your peers - even when it's something as trivial as teeth loss.

Connor has munched on a good number of apples, and still...those blasted teeth hang on!
 

Elaine