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Quarters for teeth

        In the many journey’s of my life, it is my strong belief that I have laughed more than cried, and feel joy more than anything.  Fortunately for me I am a simple creature and find even the smallest of things amusing and distracting.  Often times I express this to others by explaining to them that I am easily amused and “look something shiny…..”  Then trail off hoping that they get my subtleties.  This just goes back to me amusing myself, which also happens quite frequently, in more ways than one.

        I have at least a trillion “kid’s stories” that I like to toss around.  It seems as though other people are just as amused by my children as I am.  In fact, there are several times when a story has been told and my audience wants another the very next day.  As if they are fictional characters and I am simply acting out their lives for them.  Unfortunately there is not that much creativity running through my veins to make these kinds of stories up. 

        Do you remember the tooth fairy?  Not like any of us actually met the damn fairy, however, it would make those sleepless nights a lot easier if they would swing by.  So almost every time one of my boys would lose a tooth they would indefinitely stick it under their pillow in hopes to find their reward.  There have been only a couple of times in which I have remembered to place the money underneath the pillow and retrieve the tooth.  Fortunately my fiancé at the time always remembered to make the “exchange.”

        The very first tooth my oldest lost was priceless.  Well, not priceless but very expensive to say the least.  When he finally lost a tooth we were all excited for his milestone in life.  We discussed the tooth fairy and all of the details that went along with giving up your tooth.  I tried to stay up waiting for him to fall asleep, however, I did not make it.  Inevitably this was par for the course for the remaining teeth.  This is when the “ex” came into play.  Surely he remembered, lucky for the tooth fairy (and me), and took the tooth and left the money behind. 

Needless to say when my oldest lost his tooth I forgot to make the exchange.  The next morning, my son came running into the room exclaiming that the tooth fairy took his tooth and left money behind!  Of course the tooth fairy came…. 

Well, I was surprised of course like any other parent who has secretly stolen their kids tooth, only to misplace it later.  “I said really the tooth fairy came?  What did she leave you?”  (Assuming the fairy is a she)  He pulled out a five dollar bill and showed it to me.  I didn’t know what to say for a moment.  Then remarked “five dollars, hugh?  You must have taken good care of your tooth.  He said, “uh, huh.”  I wonder why the tooth fairy gave you five dollars.”  Out of nowhere, my ex says, with his face still in the pillow, “the tooth fairy didn’t have any ones.”  We laughed about this for a while. 

Throughout the course of the next several weeks my son went on to open his mouth, show his vacancy, and eagerly describe his first encounter with the tooth fairies generosity.  Family members and friends would listen to him then look up at us and say the tooth fairy only gives quarters for teeth at our house.  Our response was, “I believe that is the going rate for teeth, except for the first one, then it’s five.”