When Story was four, we took her to Disney World. In response to my excitement over meeting some of the characters, she said, “Mommy, you do realize those are just people in costumes, right?” She has always just known things beyond her years, and sometimes that means that the “magic” just isn’t the same with her. I couldn’t deny that those were just people in costume, and I have to admit my relief at the fact that we didn’t have to wait in long lines to greet these just-people-in-costumes.

But as much as she knows these things, there have always been certain things she believes in, or at least, wants to believe in. She believes we have fairies who visit our garden and sometimes leave her miniature notes and the odd quarter here and there. She believes in heaven. She believes in magic.

The other night, the last of her first round of baby teeth to fall out was so wiggly, it bothered her. We wiggled it, tugged it, wrapped dental floss around it… finally she begged me to twist it out (gag), and I obliged. My two biggest stomach-turning fears are teeth and fingernails being removed, so you can imagine how much I enjoyed the job. In any case, out it popped, and she won’t lose another one until she’s around eleven years old, so it was a momentous occasion.

She was so excited to put the tooth in the Tooth Fairy pillow I made her. For the first time, she even wrote a note to the Tooth Fairy, asking how she liked the tooth, and telling her that mommy “tugd it out” for her. She drew a beautiful picture of the Tooth Fairy, and thanked her, and signed it, “Love, Story” in her best cursive.

These moments are fleeting, and with this being the last tooth she’ll lose before she truly no longer believes, it hit me straight in the heart. We’ve had such an emotional week here, I guess it snuck into me a little more than it usually would.

So when she finally fell asleep, I placed five dollars in there as a special surprise, and I sprinkled pink glitter over her pillow, the Tooth Fairy pillow, and in her hair. And I tucked a tiny little note into the pillow:

There is great magic in her, and I hope she never forgets.