Toothless Wonder

Wow, it is Sunday morning, a day of rest after a six day work week interspersed with a boogie-booger infested, demanding stay at home sick child.  5:30 a.m. came and went. Our blind dog Fiona has had her morning walk and her perpetually floating dog hair has been vacuumed up. The dishes are done,and I'm on the third load of laundry.


So, at this very moment in my backyard, I am relishing the balmy 70 degrees and commanding directions that Casey is belting out to the several lizard captives she caught this morning. 


Earlier this morning, I was graced with a phone call from my "Renaissance man" brother Chris, who is a gentle, brilliant soul, dad, entrepreneur, funny man, and author of the website: mymeditativemoments.com


Our phone chat was the pit stop that I needed to refuel my sinus congested, delirious brain. I love focused, inspirational conversation. We spoke about surface appearances versus social appearances versus perceptive appearances versus desired appearances. Well, our conversation also included "tubby talk" about my 2 year old nephew's need for a bath, but the existential-layered thought talk is what I prefer to extract.


So here are my thoughts on "appearance" this week:

At 5 and a half, Casey lost her first tooth.
She was so excited, exclaiming that her big teeth were coming! The tooth fairy surely has a sense of humor, bringing her a singing frog, silver dollar and of course, chocolate.

That's right, chocolate. My child believes that all of the world's ills can be cured with chocolate, and so do I. I would rather "bake brownies for bullies than mind-wrestle them" is a statement I have oftentimes made in justification of my wondrous exit from the legal profession.  If every person sweetened his or her neighbor's life there would be less woes, wouldn't there be?
Where is that fairy with my chocolate?

I am quite positive that Casey and I could eat the same piece of chocolate and hers would taste more delicious. Why? Because she has not eaten as much chocolate as I have. Its appearance is still a fantastic novelty to her. The numerous years of my eating chocolate under many circumstances; parties, relationship break-ups, weight-loss celebrations, weight-gain realizations, friends' visits, miscarriages, holidays, sad movies, happy movies, the sun rising, the sun setting, and so on and so on, have slightly dulled the chocolate experience for me. I guess that I have taken its taste for granted.  I know that it will be delicious while I eat it, but then I also know that the euphoria will end with a crumpling of a wrapper. 

Casey's elation over her "lost" tooth prompted me to join in her celebration. We grabbed a tutu and stopped off at my store to pick up a "one less tooth" smiley shirt. On the way to school, she told me how she couldn't wait for her other teeth to fall out. From her booster seat in the back, my mop top beauty yelled, "I can't wait to get teeth like you mommy and to be 8 and to drive our car!" I tilted the rear view mirror to see the full expression of her one toothless grin and I smiled and said, "I love that you are the way you are today and that you are 5."

After she showed off her itty bitty tooth to the office staff, unknown visitors, the maintenance crew,  and her Pre-K4 class and teachers, I returned to my car and sat for a little while in my self-designated therapy parking spot. Casey is already more than 4 feet tall. Many people comment about their own personal amazement over her height in front of her. She hears that she is exceptionally tall and that they mistake her for being 8 or older. She hears me tell them that she is 5 and that she is blessed with potentially, superhero, Olympian strength.

As any mother, I pray that my daughter loves herself each day of every day of her life. I hope that she views her physicality as a gift, and that her loves, goals and accomplishments are above and beyond normal heights.

I then stopped off at the CVS on the corner and bought a Snickers bar. I  ate it like it was my first time ever doing so.

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PS, note to parents------do not be fooled thinking that I was able to sit outside and write this blog without interruption from Casey. After a few minutes of writing, our day set in: eating, playing, misbehaving, time-outing, reflecting on transgressions, and then going to the Gnomeo and Juliet movie. After all that, I resumed blogging. Happy Day.