It is so wonderful to see Noodle’s full smile, now that her braces are off – and especially since the follow-up to the braces, the dreaded retainer, is now rarely the Shelly-Marsh-style headgear I had the pleasure of wearing throughout my middle school years as one of many indications to fellow students that I was somebody who could be bullied about with ease because never in recorded history has a 12-year-old nerd with social anxiety, glasses and orthodontic headgear ever fought back, no matter how grievously tormented.

Yes, this was already the subject of my newest “why, in MY day, missy” speech to which she dutifully rolled her eyes.