(8th grade was the epitome of awkward for me!)

i got braces the summer of 1982, right before my 8th grade year started. for some reason, i also chopped off all of my hair. this was a super unfortunate combination. my children are both delighted and horrified by my school photo that year. my daughter also got braces during the summer before 8th grade. she has them on the top and the bottom. i don’t really understand why she needed them at all because her teeth were perfectly straight before (unlike mine, which were seriously wonky on the top AND the bottom, although the ortho only braced the top.) i think it has something to do with her bite and how her teeth will work in the future. anyway - she is pulling them off far better than i did (to be fair, she did NOT cut off all of her hair) but no one will ever even see her braces because she has perfected the closed mouth mona lisa smile and we don’t have any photographic proof that she has braces at all. despite my best interests, i am incapable of smiling without showing every single tooth i’ve got, braced or crooked. lucy’s generation has been practicing their angles and learning about their “good sides” with selfies for years so you will not catch them in an unflattering photo.

(this is my 7th grade photo - i clearly NEEDED braces… some of my teeth are facing sideways)

(lucy with braces and tammy faye levels of mascara)

(maybe the mona lisa had braces too? maybe i’ve just solved one of the biggest mysteries of the art world?)

(this is lu in 7th grade… her teeth look tip top to me)

i find it hilarious that she is so determined to hide her braces because she has donned unappealing fake teeth for years, flashing them at strangers in restaurants, airports, grocery stores, etc. she also was never shy about smiling when she knocked her tooth out on the bathtub at three and had a huge gap. and she was PROUD when her teeth started falling out naturally all at once. regardless, i am happy that she is weathering her braces far better than i did.

(baby lucy and her beloved fake teeth!)

(here is lucy after she bonked her front tooth on the bathtub and had to have it pulled)

(here is lucy smiling as big as can be with hardly any teeth!)

* rosie recently got a drastic haircut too… i hardly recognized her when i went home recently to visit. unlike me, she is just as cute with her hair chopped off (the pet pillow behind her is what she looked like before. i got obsessed with these pillows - i have been sending them to my favorite college freshmen so they have a little friend from home in their dorm rooms.)

to read more about lucy and her teeth click here