A while back my daughter had her first loose tooth. Every one was very excited as we took turns wiggling it back and forth. I made the obligatory joke about tying a string to it and a door knob but, of course, Hope would have none of that. As time went on, the tooth got looser and soon it became obvious that it would fall out in a day or two at the most. A funny thing happened to my wife and I. We both felt uneasy and a little bit of stress from it. It was funny because we were sitting at the dinner table when Hope really gave it a good wiggle and Amy and I looked at each other. Unspoken words passed between us as we both immediately felt the same thing. But why?

It was weird. We later decided that the stress and uneasiness we felt was due to this being a new experience for us. Now don’t misunderstand, the uneasiness we felt was very minor and this was certainly not something we were actually worried about, but there was a feeling of being uncomfortable about the whole thing. Being the male that I am, I immediately went through the checklist of “things that needed to be done when the tooth comes out.” Get the tooth, comfort the child (if necessary), clean tooth, break out the tooth fairy pillow (a little pillow Amy had when she was a little girl specifically made for lost teeth), decide on how much to give Hope ($1, remember she has 32 teeth), how to make the switch, what to do with the tooth. Once I had a plan in mind I was more at ease.

Still I found it interesting that both my wife and my initial feeling was one of fear and uneasiness. A quick burst of rational thinking took care of it, but what about bigger issues? How often does something happen and we feel powerless to do anything about it so we end up doing nothing? How long do we ignore a problem before it gets to the point that only some external stimulus forces to actually take action?

It often takes more bravery to look upon a problem and immediately tackle the issue rather than not think about it and let the problem fester. There is some comfort in finally being forced to deal with an issue, say replacing the roof on your house. By the time you are forced to do it, typically you are in crisis mode. Your body is hopped up on adrenaline and you are making rapid decisions to take care of the issue. Unfortunately, these may not be the best decisions but they are the best you can make at the time, and that is why it is far better to deal with an issue the first time you come across it. The time to replace your roof is when you first notice an issue with the shingles, not when water is dripping on the carpet of your bedroom. You save yourself so much trouble by tackling the issue directly.

The next day, hope was eating a chocolate egg and her tooth came out. She opened her mouth to show us and floating in a mass of melted chocolate, saliva, and blood was a tiny white speck of a tooth. Hope herself was upset about the whole thing; I think the blood scared her although there was not very much there. Ah, she is her father’s daughter.