Friday bonus: My mother got dental report cards in school, and my grandmother saved them all.

When my mother started school in 1950, the city of Los Angeles had the mouths of all their elementary school students inspected regularly to make sure they had no issues with their teeth or gums that needed to be addressed.

If a student’s mouth was deemed “clean and healthy,” the dentist gave them a “Certificate of Dental Health.” And along with her report cards, my grandmother saved all of my mother’s dental certificates and examination reports.

My favorite report, of course, is the one shown above, because right next to my mother’s name are stamped the words: “Should Brush Teeth Better.”

I love picturing my mother as a little girl who needed to brush her teeth better, and really wish I could tease her about that, since I remember vividly how she she never let me go to sleep until I convinced her my teeth were brushed properly.

But most of all, I love that my grandmother saved all those certificates. Not just so I get to see them, but because they show how much she loved her little girl.