Missing...

I lost a tooth today. "This is a sacrifice for being a mother," the dentist said. My mom-in-law said she lost a tooth with every child she bore. This is a part of being a mother nobody tells you about along with that you will forever sleep with one eye open. What will I do with a missing molar? I can act as if nothing happened. Denial works in mysterious ways. But there is a hole in my mouth, though not as big as the one in my chest. I've lost a tooth today and last week a friend lost her mother, yet another lost her dog and I am still losing my first-born child. Are they "lost" or are they hovering above their former cavity, persisting only in our thoughts. The space that loss fills feels enormous when something or someone is gone...