Thankful

Thanksgiving this year was what Thanksgiving should be.  A constant hum of conversation, all the cousins reunited, glowing votives, spiced cranberries and creamy pumpkin pie, friends and family gathered around a large, extended table, the excitement of an upcoming marriage and addition to the family, sharing gratitude, a frosty football game, and a brisk, chilly walk while telephoning my family in balmy California.

There was also an E.R. visit, resulting in three staples to a cousin’s head, and a middle-of-the-night puking incident, resulting in the deep cleaning of my carpet.  But we weathered those things.  A good life always has elements of bittersweet.

After the Texas cousins hit the road, to much warmer weather I’m sure, I took Sophia (age 4) to the oral surgeon for a consultation.  We knew she had an accessory tooth that needed to be removed at some point but, it turns out, she has at least two accessory teeth and maybe more!  In a matter of moments, I realized that they were going to remove one of her teeth immediately.  I looked at my sweet, big-eyed, small daughter sitting in the dental chair and also realized that she might never forgive me for telling her that “the doctor is just going to look” when in fact, she was going to have laughing gas, a really painful shot, and a knife slicing into the roof of her mouth.

Fortunately, the promise of two cake pops solved everything.  Sugar heals all wounds.

I left the room and, 20-minutes later, came back to a slightly-loopy daughter holding a tooth box with a very long, sharp, abnormally shaped tooth therein. 

Yes, tooth fairies do occasionally visit four-year-olds!

And the next day, she was back to her normal self, and running around the children’s museum to help celebrate her brother’s second birthday.

We have a lot to be thankful for.