Lu Levin - Someone to Believe In 

 

 

So, I'm a Jewish kid from a small Jewish town in New York, originally. It's called New City, New York, but it's actually sweetly named Jew City to the other Jews. [chuckles] Something nice about having that bigger population as a kid is that come the holidays, it's more 50/50 in classrooms you have kids that are celebrating Christmas and kids that are celebrating Hanukkah for presents. [chuckles] 

 

I really enjoyed that as a kid, but the thing that kind of I wished I had more in my religion was that all of the kids that celebrated Christmas and Easter and stuff had Santa and the Easter bunny to believe in and make them happy. I thought that was really cool. But all I had was the tooth fairy. So, I really, really dug the tooth fairy. [audience laughter] I really enjoyed getting visits from her, because it was like, “Oh, they get chocolate, but I get a quarter when I lose my tooth.” [chuckles]

 

So, it's a first grade, and I have parents that work really hard to make me and my sister feel loved but also have to work a lot. My mom was getting her master's in education and about to start teaching. And my dad was an organic chemist, so that included long hours at the lab. I didn't really see a lot of them at parents come to school things. But one day in first grade, I came home and I was like, “I want to make a new friend. I'm going to write to the tooth fairy. She's always shown up for me. So, I'm just going to leave a letter under my pillow.” [audience laughter] 

 

I wrote my first letter to the tooth fairy. I said, “Dear, tooth fairy. I'm in first grade. You've collected my teeth before, but it's nice to meet you. [audience laughter] I feel like we could be really good friends, and I'd love to hear about your life and your job. I'm super interested. [audience laughter] Write me back if you feel like that would be a good idea. No pressure.” [audience laughter] I stuck it. I showed my mom. I was like, “Mom, I'm writing to the tooth fairy. I hope she answers.” And my mom was like, “Mm. [audience laughter] Yeah, me too. That sounds fine.” And that night, I stuck it under my pillow, I went to sleep, no expectations, but hoping for a response.

 

The next morning, I woke up and I saw this beautiful letter under my pillow on purple stationery with glitter on the border and a fairy sticker in the corner. And it said, “It's so nice to talk to you. Not a lot of people do that with me. I'm really excited. [audience laughter] I think you're a great kid.” Just nice things about wanting to start a friendship with me. So, I was ecstatic, not only because I got a response, but because I knew it was definitely from the tooth fairy, because we did not have fancy stationery or stickers in the house. [audience laughter] 

 

I kept writing to her every night. But before I would put it under my pillow, I would tell my mom, just because I wanted to let her know how the progress was going. [audience laughter] We were never going to have a playdate, but I was still stoked. My mom would always nod her head and be like, “I'm glad it's going well. Keep doing it.” And so, this is obviously how my mom knew that the tooth fairy would be getting letters. But eventually, in your friendship, you can stop telling your mom that you're talking to someone, because you're just friends, you're just talking. It made me so happy and joyful to get these letters back. 

 

So, one night, I was like, “I'm going to ask the tooth fairy what she looks like.” It's the elusive question, but I feel like we're there. [audience laughter] And so, I say, “Hi, tooth fairy. I hope you're doing well. Thanks for responding to my last letter. I'm just wondering-- You can trust me. No pressure, but you can trust me. What do you look like? Could you just tell me anything? I'm so excited to know, because we would have contests at the dentist's office to draw the tooth fairy for a bowl of Hershey’s Kisses, and I wanted to win.”

 

And so, I left this letter under my pillow, but I did it without telling my mom this time. And in the morning, my letter was still there, I hadn't gotten answer and I thought, “Oh my God, have I betrayed the tooth fairy's trust? Am I losing something that I've loved and that's made me happy for so long?” I told my mom and my mom was like, “Oh, man, she's probably just collecting teeth of the world. Don't worry.” [audience laughter] I ended up getting a letter back late the next night, which was good. So, my belief was still there and it was strong enough for me to bring a letter or four into first grade show and tell. 

 

So, I come in and I'm like, “Hey, guys, I've been writing the tooth fairy. We're really close friends. And if you want to give it a shot, she would probably talk to you too, hear my letters.” There's this cool kid in class named Jordan Houseman, and he says from the back of the room, that's not the tooth fairy, it's your mom. And I go, “Oh,” for a sec, because that hurts to hear that someone is calling your friendship fake. And I say, “It's not my mom. We don't have the stationery in the house.” [audience laughter] 

 

And I keep writing for a little while from extra responses here and there. My mom is working. It gets a little bit iffy. Eventually, I did realize that the tooth fairy wasn't real. I don't know when, but the other important thing that I realized, is that if the tooth fairy looks like my mom, who cares about me like my mom does, then that makes me just as joyful. Thank you.