baby teeth

Last night one of my dearest friends came over to my apartment for a pajama party. We made quesadillas and ate fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies [read: cookie dough]. We created artwork and watched P.S. I Love You. We talked, and between fits of laughter, she helped me realize something incredible around two o'clock this morning.

Do you ever question the purpose of some past occurrence? The feeling I'm referring to is different from regret; I simply wonder why the Lord allows certain events to transpire - people or things that change us drastically if he knows from the beginning that they will end in heartache. I posed this question to my friend and she answered with wisdom. She suggested that the absence of pieces of my heart that I felt I had lost is creating space for new things - better things - that God wants to fill me with.

kind of like losing your baby teeth.

This morning I found myself wondering more about the concept of baby teeth. So, naturally, I googled it. This is what I found:

Baby teeth are widely found in the animal kingdom. Fish an reptiles continuously lose and replace their teeth throughout their lives, but mammals have just two sets of teeth. . . . Young mammals' skulls are small, and it's impossible for them to accommodate a full array of adult choppers, so juveniles have cute little temporary teeth to fit in their immature jaws. Once the bones of the cranium have developed to adult size, the tiny teeth start wiggling and fall out. . . . The process for initiating the formation of permanent teeth in humans is not completely understood. Normally, permanent teeth come in at about age six as part of a genetic development sequence whose temporal trigger is not yet known. Perhaps these teeth start jumping ship after being made to chew all sorts of stuff off the floor for the last five years. . . . As the enzymes break down the tooth's root and surrounding connective tissue, the tooth loosens until it's time for the old 'dad and string ploy' to provide space for the adult tooth.

I could take this metaphor so very far, but I will spare you. All I will say is that about a year ago I was (spiritually) walking around with a toothless grin.

In answer to the question of the purpose of baby teeth, I simply have to look at my little brother. Yesterday dad and I took him up to Dockery Lake for a quick 7 mile in-and-out. On our way home we stopped in Dahlonega for lunch and three chocolate-covered pretzels from the Fudge Factory. This is what happened:



Robby's baby teeth provide sustenance for him at this stage in his life, but he will eventually outgrow them. That is not only okay and normal - it's beautiful.

[definitely something to smile about]