Making Room for New Growth

Well, I have not written in a looooong time.  Duh.  A lot has been going on.  But you all know me - I write in droughts and floods.  So here's to the end of the drought and to the beginning of a nice long flood!

To begin with, the kids and I now live in Chapel Hill, NC!  Whoo hoo for being closer to family!  I'll post more about this later, but it's been a great transition so far and I'm expecting great things in the future.

Which brings me to today's topic.  Making room for new growth.  

Very fittingly, Emily lost her first tooth two days after moving into our new house.  It's been wiggly for months.  I've been checking it regularly, but it was never quite right for pulling.  (And let me just tell you that I LOVE to pull loose teeth.  I've pulled most of my own, many of my nieces', and all but one of Renton's.  I have a pretty good knack for knowing when they are ready and for making the process painless.)

Anyway . . . a couple nights ago, Emily asked me to check her tooth again, and sure enough, it was feeling "ready".  We wrapped the floss around the tooth, making sure to get the floss snug up and over the back part of the tooth, so that it nearly disappeared between the gumline and the tooth itself (that's a pretty good test right there).  

The first yank produced a sort of ripping sound, and Emily's eyes got HUGE.  That was it, we were going all the way.  One more firm tug and the tooth popped out to squeals of joy!  This is always a big event in our house, and all three kids were dancing around singing and passing Emily's tooth around in all it's glory.  Even better was the fact that if you looked closely you could see the new tooth budding through the hole. 

Emily immediately tucked it in a little plastic baggie (never got around to getting those really cool tooth pillows for my kids - I know - I suck), and slid it under her pillow.  So true to Emily's nature, she made sure to put it under the pillow she was NOT sleeping on, so that the tooth fairy wouldn't have a hard time getting under it to retrieve the tooth.  One of Emily's best traits is her empathy.

The tooth fairy came right on time (a first for the fairy in our house) and even left Emily a note with her name.  This was Renton and Emily's biggest excitement because they were dying to find out if it would be the SAME tooth fairy or if they each had a different one.  It was the same fairy.  Her name is Esmerelda.

So what does all this have to do with anything?  Sometimes you have to lose something that once was a very integral part of your life, your being, your identity, to make room for better, more permanent things.  A baby tooth is beautiful and white and tiny and perfect.  But it will not serve you as you grow and become an adult.  For that, you need something bigger, stronger, and more permanent.  The transition can be long, scary and sometimes a little painful.  Getting help from another, experienced person helps. Being surrounded by cheerleaders and family makes it even a little bit exciting.  And in the end you can smile a big, HUGE, GLORIOUS smile - showing off your gaping hole to the world - the proud the symbol of your growth and progress.

So here's to new beginnings!  (Even if it's not the first set of new beginnings.)  There are better, more permanent things ahead for all of us.