Core Memory

To Mason:

Last night, we had a little talk about the Tooth Fairy. It showed me how thoughtful and caring you are as a little boy. Your front tooth was barely hanging on by a thread. I did the ol’ Dad trick of ‘let me see it’ and *pop* it fell right out into my hand. It was pretty surprising to you because that was the first tooth that got snatched out, but you did great. It freaked you out at first and you started to quietly panic, but you came right back and got brave. Mom got you salt for some warm water and it stopped bleeding quickly.

Once you got over it, you were excited about getting it to the Tooth Fairy for some dollars. We talked about where to put it (in a Lego box vs. in the Lego Dinosaur’s mouth), but then you started to get sad. After a few minutes, you said that you didn’t want to give this one to the Tooth Fairy. You wanted to keep it instead so you’d always remember loosing your baby teeth. I could see that you were getting a little emotional, and that made me get a little bit emotional too. We talked about it for a minute. I told you a story about my granddad helping pull one of my teeth, and I remember being at his house in Crawfordville when I was your age. I said, I didn’t have any of my baby teeth anymore, and I’ll always remember that moment. I didn’t need the baby teeth to help me remember. You said that you’d always remember too and decided that it’d probably be best to just let the Tooth Fairy get it. She got all mommy and daddy’s teeth. She gets all your teeth and she’ll get all Charlotte’s too. Just like I’ll never forget my granddad and being at his house, I’ll never forget you loosing your teeth and helping you pull them. You’ll never forget either. I promise.

It’s moments like these that Dad’s live for. I’m making core memories at age 38.

Love you buddy.