The End of an Era

So today I lost the last vestige of my youth--a baby tooth that has remained in my mouth for some 60 years.  I was sad to see it go.  It's so cute and tiny.  If I were a visual artist, I would mark the occasion by making it the center of an art work.  But instead I'm going to place my little tooth in the little white shoes, the first I wore as a baby, that my mom presented to me as a momento mori  on my 40th birthday.  So sweet that she kept them all those years. 

The shoes, now with the tooth nestled inside, will sit on a shelf in my study.