Smile for the camera, Andrew

It's a day Andrew has been looking forward to all his life.
The braces are off.
When Andrew's adult teeth came in, they weren't nice to him. His cuspids were way too high, and the rest of his mouth just didn't cooperate.
He was always self-conscious about the way he looked, and as soon as it became feasible, it became orthodontics time.
A big part of me, the way that I was raised, viscerally objected to the whole idea of orthodontics. That was the echo of my own parents' attitudes about it, a certain Puritanism about something with cosmetic benefits. Well, I got over it, and the results are amazing. Andrew came out of the orthodontist's office with the largest smile I've ever seen.
He's spent the rest of the day smiling, and enjoying the taste and the feel of food without metal in the way.
He's still going to wear a retainer for some time, but mostly, he's enjoying that new smile, learning how to make that smile work.
It took patience, oral surgery and several years of tweaks and adjustments. It's done.
And it's paid for.