It was a normal, quiet Saturday evening. I was working on the computer, my husband was watching some ridiculously stupid movie, he’s seen a hundred and one times already. Like I said, normal evening.

Our eight year old had been outside playing all day, and the walls shook when she came running in, the screen door slamming behind her and sobbing with a tear stained face and out of breath.

I glance over at my husband, and roll my eyes, figuring she and her friends had had another one of those “ I hate you and will never talk to you again” fights that occurs at least twice a month. It had been a few weeks since the last one, I figured we were overdue.

So, feigning concern, I ask her why she’s crying.

So, now I’m confused. This is not the first tooth she’s lost; she has in fact mastered the art of tooth losing and fairy prepping and has it down to a fine science. Typically, when kids say they lost a tooth, they mean, it was loose, fell out, and hand it to you to keep until bedtime when the elusive tooth fairy can come and exchange some pocket change to ease the trauma of losing said tooth.

” Well, ok then, “ I smile, “ hand it to me and we’ll rinse it off and put it in a baggie for tonight, so we don’t lose it,” This simple statement, and traditional mommy attitude sends her into even deeper moans of despair…

" I ALREADY LOST IT!!!!!! WAHHHHHHHHHHH" she wails as a fresh new batch of sobs springs forth.

At this point, you can visually see my body get smaller with the enormous sigh that just escaped me.

“It’s ok,” I say softly as I try to console her, “where did you lose it?”

" By the mailbox!! WAHHHHHHHH"

“ Right by the mailbox? Or on the driveway?”

“ I don’t know!!!!!!!!!!!” and the sobbing commences

It’s at this point in time where you can see my body get visibly smaller as the enormous sigh escapes. For many people, this might not be the terrifying proposition it is for us. Our mailbox is down a gravel road. A rather LONG gravel road.

So, we head down there, and I am hoping beyond all imaginable hope, that the missing tooth is on the dirt directly in front of the mailbox, where the mail man has trampled everything all down with his car.

Of course its not. It’s on the gravel. Somewhere. In the 500 feet from the house to the mailbox. I ask her, " Do you have any idea where you dropped it?"

She shrugs, tears pouring down her crimson face.

So what’s a mom to do? I'll admit it, I DID consider telling her not to worry about it, that we'll never find it, and the tooth fairy will see it and know it was hers and maybe leave a little something for her anyways. But the continuing sobs still emitting from her in a guttural wail tell me I have to at least TRY (or pretend to) find it. SO...down I go, on hands and knees, and start scanning the rocks.

As I sit, Indian style on the gravel, looking for anything white and tooth shaped, I pick up about a hundred pebbles. Eventually, my neighbor comes out (quick not to miss anything going on around here) and asks what I'm doing. I can't say I blame him, its not as if I crawl around on the rocks very often, especially directly in front of his house...

" Looking for a tooth" I say and shrug. He laughs and goes back in, no doubt to tell his wife about silly Debbie outside sifting through gravel looking for a little lost tooth.

Nearly an hour later, with gravel particles permanently embedded in my knees, I FIND IT!

As quickly as I find it, hands appear from nowhere and snatch my treasure from my grasp! A trail of dust is all I see as I look up towards the house - the bottoms of sneakers and skinny little legs racing as fast as she can go.

And she stops. And looks down, and God, please tell me I’m imagining it, looks down.

“ MOM!!!!!!!!”

I didn’t even have time to utter a scolding before she reaches down and snatches the miniscule prize “ NEVERMIND!” And the dust trail starts back up again.

My neighbor sticks his head back out the door ‘ find it?” he asks with a smile. “ Yuppers” I reply, and straighten my aching back out. As I walk back up towards the house, I wonder to myself if the Tooth Fairy leaves a commission for mommies who go above and beyond the call of duty in lost tooth preparation?