You have a baby and they get many immunizations and teeth. Then they begin losing all their hard-won teeth. Then they stop getting immunizations. Then they stop losing teeth. Then they turn 11, begin 6th grade, pose for the annual outside-the-front-door-picture and start losing teeth again, something you nearly forgot about.  Then they need immunizations again, something you completely forgot about.

Parenthood: a Series of Regressions.

The anxious night before Huck’s sudden and frantic immunizations appointment, he called up some fellow 6th graders experienced in this round of shots for an encouraging Skype session. He laid in bed beside me giggling over comments like “chill dude!” and “The shots don’t even hurt!  It’s afterwards that’s painful!”  I watched his heavy heart become light again before my very eyes, and though I wouldn’t describe him as exactly “brave” or even “acceptable” the next day, he survived the three shots and eventually forgave us for forgetting.  The morning after his tooth came out he sarcastically announced, “I guess the tooth fairy forgot to come?” I humbly glanced at Troy, normally a father of Emperor Penguin-like proportions now struggling through the terrible trio of walking pneumonia, an intense rehearsal schedule and a full-time job, and we quietly dropped our heads, unified in parental shame.

Thankfully our friends make us lighthearted, too.