- Today was a big day for a few reasons:
Today was the 1st day of school; but not just any other 1st day: For Julianna, it was her 1st day in Middle School and for Chloe it was her 1st day in Elementary School without Julianna. That would normally bring a lot of anxiety for everyone in our house. We also moved, less than a week ago, into a new house in our town. Our last house was on a busy road, somewhat secluded, and without any real neighborhood. We chose to move for a bunch of reasons, with one of the biggest being to give the girls a real neighborhood and a real opportunity to do things like going out and playing with other kids, riding bikes, taking the dog for a walk, etc.
Our house transition was a bit crazy. We found a house we loved and made an offer. It was accepted without us having even put our house on the market yet and so the race was on. The good news was, both girls were going away to summer camp in a short while so there was that whole effort to deal with too (although to be fair, that was mostly my wife).
And so on we went. We found a buyer who wanted to close in 4 weeks. No problem. Those weeks just happened to coincide with the time the girls were at summer camp. Unfortunately, we weren’t scheduled to close on the new house until a month after that. Fortunately, my sister, who lives in the same town, was happy to have us move in with them for the interim. The good news is that her kids also go to the same summer camp.
Packing begins.
Packing ends. We pick up Chloe from summer camp (she stayed 3.5 weeks and Julianna was staying for 7) on a Monday. That night, she and my wife slept at my sister’s house along with Cassie The Dog. I stayed at our old house with the cat because the movers were coming early the next morning. Earlier than their arrival, I moved the cat there too.
Yada yada yada, we sold our house and were living with my sister and her family. All was well, if not a little unsettled.
It turns out our respective families get along really well so it was a good time.
3.5 weeks later, all the siblings are home, the end of summer is approaching, and we are days away from closing on the new house. We closed on the new house just over a week ago and the movers were back under a week ago. We wanted to get as much done and settled before school started…
And that’s where we are. New school. New bus stops. New opportunity for independence.
[awkward transition]
And then Chloe lost a tooth.
And then Julianna lost a tooth.
So I was sitting here recently thinking of writing about all the things going on this summer but then the teeth fell out and I decided I wanted to write about what that means to ME.
Maybe you’ve been reading my blog for a while and have seen this post about the very first tooth Julianna lost. I don’t know what happens with your teeth or your children but for Chloe and Julianna, the Tooth Fairy writes letters…
…for EACH FUCKING TOOTH.
Do you even know how many children there are in the world losing teeth every day? Santa gets a ton of attention for 1 night of work each year. The Tooth Fairy does it 3-6-5. She puts in the work.
But here’s the thing…I love that “it happens.”
We are Jewish and as a result, the girls don’t get to experience a lot of magic. I’m not talking about coin and card tricks that were the precursor to #dadjokes. I’m talking the real stuff. They don’t get to experience Santa or the Easter Bunny.
They get to believe in the Tooth Fairy and I think she knows that and as a result, gives them as great an experience as possible. I love that they buy in and I hope it lasts for a long time. There have been times when I think they think it might be me.
That’s just absurd.
But then there are times, like tonight, when I think, for all the “bravado” of thinking they figured it out, something happens where I’m convinced they still believe:
You see, the girls write letters to the Tooth Fairy when their teeth fall out and tonight’s letter, which I happened to sneak a peak at, got me a little emotional.
Julianna wrote, among other things, that she wasn’t sure exactly how many teeth she had lost but thought she was close to losing all of her baby teeth (she is). She wrote that once they were all out, she was going to miss the visits from the Tooth Fairy; that she was “bummed.”
And that’s the magic.
Julianna went to sleep tonight, her letter sitting with her tooth (on her bookshelf – because who wants a stranger, even a magical one, creeping around your pillow while you sleep), exhausted from a first day at a new school, exhausted from not having her stuff or her bedroom for 2 months, exhausted from a long summer of fun and craziness…
But still believing in magic.