Dear Tooth Fairy,

When I was young, Aunt Cristie told me all about your kind.  I loved Tinker Bell (though now I can see she was a self-centered twit) and spent hours imagining and looking for winged beauties along creeks and in mossy corners.  But you?  You I was unimpressed with.

Maybe it was because you were a working girl, having to collect nasty, bloody baby teeth and exchange them for cash. For what purpose?  What were you doing with those teeth anyway? It wasn’t very romantic to me and you never quite caught my imagination.

I struggled with what to tell my own children about you and thought surely I still had some time to sort it all out when Philip knocked that first one out.  Max wasn’t far behind and it became clear that they had picked you up by osmosis somehow. You were needed at our house.

Their belief helped my unbelief.

Then came Philip’s dental diagnosis.  Right smack-dab in the middle of our personal “financial crisis,” the news that he needed to have the equivalent of the price of a small car’s worth of work done hit us like a ton of bricks.  While we did get a teeth whitener which helped take care of the yellow teeth but what ere we going to do for the rest of the damages?  Magic and faith were in short supply and we had abundance of fear and worry. That multiplied times two when the dentist discovered 2 teeth needed extraction and then spacers and caps.

Ugh.

Family chipped in as they could and we proceeded onward with our eyes squinched shut and breathing “Trust!” through clenched teeth.

Then your letter came.  The note addressed to me with my return address.  I read it’s message – To a little boy who needs a little help with his teeth. The Tooth Fairy – twice.  Once and then again to make sure it was real.  Then I read the check and cried.  Right there in the living room in front of Jac and my parents and the kids and Monday.  And I couldn’t stop smiling. You made our week.  Our month even.  Maybe even our year.

So, I guess what I want to say is that I believe.  Sorry for my years of doubting.  You and your generous gift was an answer to prayer.

Love,

Annie

*This is a true story.  Thank you a thousand times over to the real “tooth fairy”, whoever and wherever they are! The kids are sold on the toothfairy’s existence now and this is now one of Philip’s favorite stories to share with strangers. He’s a big fan.