... pleasure intensified, at least according to my father. This is one of his favorite quotes. He has several of these "character building" life mantras, but I remember the delay-of-pleasure one the most.

It never sank in for me, me who craves(d) instant gratification and was unable to wait for ANYTHING as a child. I got much better with age, and have even swung around to embracing the "wait for what you want" philosophy, and "pleasure delayed is pleasure intensified." This streak of impulsiveness and instant gratification that was - and occasionally still is - so strong in me seems to be skipping a generation.

Flipper lost her first tooth Saturday at the evening fun in Saxapahaw. Unwilling to look at it jutting from her gum at a right angle, I yanked it out. It was so ready to fall that it barely bled at all. She was BEYOND thrilled, happy, excited ... all of those emotions that accompany the loss of a tooth. Except that she is willing to delay the arrival of the Tooth Fairy for several weeks. Why? She wants to take the tooth, currently living atop a satin pillow in a small box - to Colorado.

Apparently, she thinks my sister, her beloved Aunt Kathryn, is just frothing at the mouth to see a tiny, square white tooth. With a tiny bloody stump where it was connected to her mouth. Flipper is convinced - and rightly so that the Tooth Fairy can find her wherever she is, and whatever pillow this tiny tooth finally decides to rest.

But I do find this amazing, that she can willingly and eagerly wait-and wait and wait-for the Tooth Fairy to show up, even at 9000 feet in the San Juan mountains on southwest Colorado.

Now I have to remember to take whatever it is the Tooth Fairy will leave!

Leigh appears Fridays on TriangleMom2Mom. Read more about Leigh on her blog Flipper and Me.