Birthdays are best celebrated in the presence of young people who love to teach and learn.
Is it just me or do birthdays really pass through time starting out like a ’73 green Pinto, not so gradually morphing into a speeding bullet?
May 3rd: three letters expressing hope and a digit denoting the end of an inning…and here we are again. And through the years in these essays, I’ll confess to my using none other than the Los Angeles Clippers as a time tool…as in “I hope I can take care of myself well enough to live to see the day when the Clippers finally beat the defending NBA world champs in a Game Seven (Very happy to report “I did.”)
And hopefully, May springs eternally enough for some more memorable photo-ops. No complaints so far; I’ve already seen the Angels win the World Series in person, been to Notre Dame Stadium and the Masters in Augusta; and felt like Jimmy Stewart gazing out at our Capitol all lit up under a full moon. I’ve eaten the world’s finest canole ever, freshly offered up in my mom’s family’s home town in Piana Deglis Albenese, Sicily and attended a great big Italian wedding in romantic Positano on the Amalfi Coast. And I can even remember seeing “Stand by Me” on the big screen when you could actually go to the movies…in Temple City.
Geez, there are times I wish I was worse at math but I guess when you start dental school instead of military school you can practice dentistry for decades and still be a young whippersnapper…if only in dog years…or your own mind.
And for the last several months, I can’t tell you how young I’ve felt and, for that, I guess I have an elite Arcadia pediatric dentist to thank. Dr. Eddie So entrusted us with the care of his niece, Ashley (Ashley’s applying to dental school and hopes to follow Uncle Eddie’ footsteps.) The concept was Ashley would “shadow” the day-to-day goings-on in our practice and get a sense of what to expect in the real general private practice world.
Ashley needed 100-hours of outside experience to fulfill the application requirements. And my team members and I benefitted from every hour. Sure, Ashley was a super-quick learner and actually did way more than “shadow” (even though we identified her as “The Shadow” in our newsletter.) But Ashley actually helped make us better.
We had two of our best months in March and April and those nine weeks had next to nothing to do with new strategies or techniques; they had everything to do with attitude.
If you’ve been doing something you love starting back in Late Disco (when the Clippers were in Buffalo for cryin’ out loud), there’s nothing more energizing than surrounding yourself with young people who like to teach and want to learn. And if only Ponce De Leon was still around to benefit from the Dental Assistants Extraordinaire Dani and Kolleen/Ashley dynamic! Add to the learning-teaching formula, a community effort (like Smiles for Life) that pulls everyone together and you’ve really got something.
Can’t tell you how much I enjoyed my conversations with Ashley about her future. Ashley is a caring, smart, family-oriented young woman who’d be successful whatever her choice of careers; looks like dentistry got lucky. And we could have spent at least a month reviewing and dissecting all of the business lessons I’ve learned the hard way through the years. But there was one last issue Ashley was agonizing over even on the final day of her unofficial internship, her Personal Statement component of applications to dental school.
Lots of changes in my life over the last year and a half or so; seemed like it was the right time for a Personal Statement from Ashley…and me. Right now I realize I’ve been writing my personal statement sometimes as often as fifty times per month; it’s way too short for Ashley’s application but we do need to have another conversation. No wonder Ashley was such a good fit.
Thing is, every new patient gets my handwritten personal statement in the mail; the core goes something like this: “It was great meeting you; we really appreciate the opportunity. We’re looking forward to serving you just like friends and family and providing excellent care. Thanks so much, Dr. V (let’s make that Jack).”
Gratitude, Family, and Service: three words re-discovered on the third day of the month comprised of three letters expressing hope; not a bad way to spend yet another special May 3rd.
We all wished Ashley good luck…but we were pretty sure she wouldn’t be needing it.
J
