What a crazy week! As if returning to school and work after a two week break wasn’t enough, my team is responsible for delivering a major project on January 12th. To bring it in on time, meant all hands on deck and even then a few of us put in fifteen hour days.

On Thursday night I called home about 7:30. I wanted to let my family know I was on the way home, would miss the bedtime routine but would come in to give hugs and kisses. My husband let me know our daughter had some big news.

“I lost my wiggly tooth!” I heard her yell over the phone.

“Woo Hoo!” I hollered back.

Arriving home an hour later, I went straight to my daughter’s room to give her hugs as promised. She bolted to a seated position as I opened the door and exclaimed “Dad pulled my tooth out with the plunger! Look at my gap!”

“He did what?” I asked laughing and shaking my head as I walked over to her bed.

“He pulled my super wiggly tooth out with the plunger! Can you see the gap?” She opened her mouth wider and pointed to the spot where here two bottom teeth used to be.

“Do you mean the pliers sweetie?” I asked still laughing.

“Oh yeah, pliers. Cause my tooth was too slippery,” she nodded her head and smiled up at me with her eyes wide.

We chatted for another few minutes before I gave her the promised hugs and kisses, tucked her back into bed and wished her sweet dreams. I was still laughing quietly to myself as I shut her bedroom door.

My husband can be pretty creative when he has to improvise, but I am confident a plunger isn’t in his bag of tricks for extracting loose teeth.

Life moves a mile a minute and sometimes even faster. It’s a great relief to stop every once and awhile to enjoy the moment.

Oh, and I’ll never look at a plunger the same way again.

A quick note about protecting the innocent. During our family hike today we talked about new names for everyone. After several vetoes, we settled on Theo for my 10 year old son and Rhys for my 5 year old daughter. The husband, he’s still deciding. So for now, he’ll simply remain known as “the husband.”