Letter to James – The Lost Tooth

October 30, 2026

Dear James,

I felt compelled to write to you after you lost your first tooth. For any 5- or 6-year-old, losing your first tooth is a big deal, indeed, a very big deal. And because I want you to someday look back on this event with some clarity, I am recording this historical event, which occurred at one of my favorite spots in the world during my favorite time of the year.

James, when I was a young person like you are today, summer was my favorite time of year.  No school was an obvious reason.  But there were others – long days with lots of sunshine and time to explore the acres and acres of woods behind our house.  I also loved the time to play and swim.  There was also lots of baseball, which was my favorite sport as a young kid.  But when I no longer attended school and left the learning years of my life and began to work full time, Spring became my favorite time of year, bringing longer days that ushered in warm breezes carrying the fresh scents of colorful blooms.  During this time of year, long morning runs became balm for my soul, which I needed during the earning years of my life.  It was also a time to bring out the golf clubs with anticipation and renewed vigor.  In a word, Spring was a reset where everything seemed possible.

But as I have aged, Autumn has become my favorite time of year for two reasons – a time for movement and a time for connection.  After the heat and humidity of Virginia summers, which seem more oppressive with each passing year, the cooler temperatures and lower humidity that come with autumn creates a crispness in the air that begs for outdoor activity. And because I love moving with walking and hiking as integral parts of my life, I relish the time walking the neighborhood or hiking a rugged trail while appreciating the palette of autumn colors that fold into one another, a living impressionist painting created by our maker.

Starting with Halloween in the autumn and ending with New Years in early winter, these two holidays are bookends to a two-month period containing four wonderful holidays that celebrate connection with family and community.  And this year it starts tomorrow with Halloween, which traces its origins back to ancient Celtic festivals celebrating community. And we do this today, allowing our precious children to wander into our communities collecting candy – sometimes from complete strangers. This tradition may be one of the few remaining moments left where our children can almost “free range.”  Gizzy and I are excited to be with you and Liza Jean as you “free range” a little tomorrow.

In several weeks we will be with you and your family again to celebrate Thanksgiving, which may be the most family-oriented holiday of the year, followed four weeks later with Christmas, followed a week later by New Year’s.  What a line-up! How can anyone not be excited about all the opportunities to get together and celebrate.  So, anticipating all these holidays to be together is another reason I love this time of year. And guess what?  Now that you have a birthday on September 20^th and Liza Jean has a birthday on October 13^th, I have even more reasons to love this time of year because I love being with you and your sister.

For your sixth birthday, you wanted a “snake theme”.  So, we had your birthday party at Poor Creek Farm and invited lots of friends. You had two bouncy houses at the party, and your mom and dad even arranged to have a reptile show with all kinds of reptiles and snakes.  You even had a Giant Tortoise at your birthday party.  And to top it all off, Gizzy and I made a very long snake cake.  This continues a long tradition of Gizzy making themed birthday cakes.  She did this for many of your dad’s and uncle’s birthdays.

And when Liza Jean celebrated her 3^rd birthday on October 11th, she wanted a Unicorn Birthday. And so, Gizzy made a beautiful Unicorn Birthday cake.  That theme was special because Gizzy loved unicorns as a teenager. In fact, while Gizzy and I were dating, I gave her a beautiful fluffy small unicorn. Gizzy named the unicorn J.R., short for Johnny Robert. Unfortunately, I missed Liza Jean’s party because I was in North Dakota attending a Teddy Roosevelt Associating meeting to honor your great-grandmother, Sarah, known as Mimi to you.  She is a great admirer of Theodore Roosevelt.  But I was able to be with Liza Jean on her actual birthday, October 13^th.  And on that day, I gave her a fluffy unicorn.  I do not know what she will name it.  But I hope she always keeps it. So, I am looking forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you and your sister.  

Now back to why I started this letter – your tooth. Gizzy and I spent last week on vacation at the Owner’s Club at the Homestead, one of our favorite places.  Your dad brought you and Liza Jean on Saturday, October 24^th, to the Homestead to spend the last two days of our vacation with us. When you got there, you immediately went to a fall festival at the local elementary school.  You played games and made s’mores. Evidently, eating the s’mores loosened one of your front teeth.  Later at the playground, while eating Fritos, you got this weird look on your face, ran to Gizzy and said something to the effect, “Gizzy, something weird happened in my mouth.”  She asked you to open your mouth.  One of your front teeth was missing.  She said, “James, you lost a front tooth. Where is it?”  And you responded with, “I must have ate it!”  And so, that is how you lost your first tooth, never to be found again.

After you lost your tooth, you were upset at first, and you kept saying that your mouth felt weird.  And for the next hour you kept your mouth open because you did not like the way it felt with your mouth closed.  It was very cute. But you eventually got used to it.  And by that evening, everything was back to normal. James, life is like that. Change creates some weirdness.  However, we eventually get used to it until it seems normal.  Boy, I could write an entire book about that – normalizing.  This is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing.  Right now, it is a bad thing because our society is normalizing bad behavior. Hopefully, the pendulum will swing the other way soon – hopefully this will happen before you are old enough to understand the previous sentence.

Now, as everyone knows, there is a Tooth Tairy, just like there is an Easter Bunny and a Santa Clause.  The Easter Bunny leaves a basket full of goodies and Santa leaves presents under a tree.  And the Tooth Fairy leaves money under your pillow.  However, unlike the other two magical characters, the Tooth Fairy demands something in return – the lost tooth. Because there was no tooth to leave the Tooth Fairy because you swallowed it, it was decided there and then that your mom would write a letter to the Tooth Fairy explaining the circumstances surrounding how you lost your tooth. So, I am interested in learning if your mom’s letter worked and the Tooth Fairy in fact left you some money.  I do have a question. Due to inflation, how much money does the Tooth Fairy leave under the pillow these days? I cannot wait to find out. 

With gratitude for you and your sister,

Papa J