I believe in the tooth faerie...

Trixxxie came up to me in practice the other day, "you know Torture, I believe in tooth fairies." I started laughing and knew there had to be a story. Trix had lost her tooth recently due to a crown that fell off. She couldn't afford to replace it when it fell out. She had a gap in her mouth and her dental insurance did nothing for missing teeth (don't they know that people with missing teeth have a harder time getting a job, etc?!). She couldn't afford a new tooth ($2,000+). But she could afford a flip - kind of - for $650 she could get a retainer with a tooth attach (like a single tooth denture). But she didn't have $650 and asked the dentist if she could pay a little bit at each pay day until she had deposited the $650 needed. They said sure - she put down a $100 deposit to start. The next day she goes into work and there is a envelope of cash on her desk with a note on it - get your tooth fixed. Inside the envelope was $420. Trix was baffled and overwhelmed - she works in a factory - people don't make a ton of money. She didn't know what to do. So she put a note at her desk that read "I believe in the tooth faerie. Thank you."

Two days ago, Angelica was at The Dollar Store buying a ton of candy canes. A couple in line ahead of her asked her why she was buying so many candy canes. She said she was getting them for Jet City Rollergirls' Santa Skate where we raise gift cards to give to the Battered Women's Center in Everett. We sell the candy canes with little notes to put in skaters' stockings to help raise additional money. They thought that was great and said they would be sure to check out the website. When Angelica got up to the register to pay for the candy canes, the couple hand already paid for her 300 mini candy canes.

Two months ago, Star TaRiot was scheduled to get her ACL replaced. She exasperated a derby injury. She didn't have great insurance and it wasn't until she figured out that she could afford the deductible for our secondary (and mandatory) insurance that she could get the surgery done. Then about a week before the scheduled surgery, her husband lost his job. Suddenly she couldn't take the two weeks off to recover when her husband didn't have a job. It looked like her frustrating knee would be plaguing her forever (she knew they couldn't afford the Cobra insurance) and she was completely discouraged. When a patron of her parent's store - Nature's Pantry in Bellevue - told her parents that they would cover her two week's wages and pay their Cobra insurance until she they were able to get better insurance. Star parent's were promised to secrecy. She had her surgery - is in physical therapy - and has returned back to work. And will eventually return back to skating...

Hmmmm.

I believe in tooth fairies too.