The Tooth Fairy

My sweet baby boy lost his third tooth at school on Thursday. He was so excited, and I was excited for him.  The new nurse at school gave him a fancy plastic tooth necklace to bring it home safely in.  Tommy is far too much like me though, and was afraid he would loose his lost tooth if he wore the necklace so he scurried it away in his book bag and pulled it out proudly to show me when I came to pick him up.

That night after the kids went to bed I was doing my best to be a quiet, stealthy tooth fairy.  The only problem was, I couldn't remember where his previous two teeth were.  He lost them while I was in active treatment.  I remember him loosing them, it was in fact pretty epic - he shot both of them out with a Nerf gun by wrapping a string around his tooth and tying the other end to the dart.  It was awesome, but for the life of me I couldn't remember where I actually PUT the teeth.  I looked and looked for close to an hour, and then I started to get so upset.  I was looking everywhere, and I was tired.  I started thinking about how many of the little things I missed last year. How much the lasting long term effects of the chemotherapy are taking a toll on my body now, and I began to cry.

I decided to look through my jewelry box one more time.  I felt as though that was the most logical place for me to have placed a treasure such as my son's baby teeth.  I began going through each drawer slowly, pulling out sweet memories that I stuffed away for safe keeping.  I came to my grandmother's beautiful rosary, shortly thereafter I found one that my grandfather had given me, and then one that my mother had picked up for me at a church bizarre with directions on how to pray it still attached, and finally I found one that had belonged to my husband's grandmother, MawMaw.  I laid them all in my lap and admired their beauty.  Their similarities and differences, I soaked up the peace I felt by touching them, and having them close to me.  I looked in the drawer again while still holding MawMaw's elegant rosary and found what I had been looking for, the small box where I had hidden Tommy's sweet teeth.

I cried, great big hot tears.  God have given me yet another sign.  In my heart I realized that I needed to slow down and remember that as much as I want to be, I am still not fully healed.  I am still a work in progress, his work in progress.

#fightlikeamommy
#signsfromheaven