Tomorrow is the day when parents are encouraged to let their grade nine kids accompany them to work. Sara and one other young woman from my assistant’s family will be at work with us tomorrow. It should be an interesting day for all of us. We will have crying kids in the morning – it is another sedation day – whoopee!! And in the afternoon it will be mostly orthodontics. They will relate to the patients in the afternoon since I have done orthodontics on both of them. They are going to be at work with us from 8 till 5 so it will be an extra long day for them compared to school. And only 30 minutes for lunch. Maybe they will see how hard you have to work to make a living. That part may not totally sink in. But I hope it is a good experience for them.
Monthly Archives: November 2003
Grumpy Old Men —And Ladies
Why is it that some people are just grouchy. It seems to be that there are one or two especially grouchy people that come to see me. They are always negative and no one enjoys having them come in to the office. They doubt and question everything that you propose to them as being in need of treatment. So it makes me very conservative in what I suggest. I am reluctant to tell them the treatment they should have because I know they will question everything I say in such a manner as if to imply that I am suggesting it just to make money off them. They end up hurting themselves because it is so difficult to propose a treatment plan that is in their best interest – that looks at a long term plan.
I have one especially grumpy old man and another especially grumpy old lady. Today it was the turn of the grumpy old lady. She should have been in for a cleaning a year ago. We would like to work with her to get her gums into a healthy state. But it is pretty hard when she refuses to follow our suggested treatment. And then she acts as if it is our fault that her mouth is sore. So every time we see her we have gotten to anticipate a complaint and a lot of whining – not just about the teeth and our work but about the world in general. Makes you wonder what goes into these people to make them so negative.
Apart
It is hard to be apart from someone you love. It’s not the first time, it won’t be the last. In many ways it is just a part of our lives being governed by the realities of work, family, busyness and a lack of resources to do what we would like to be doing.
Leo has been away almost a week. It will be good to have him home again tonight.
Apart
One heart beating
One flesh.
Distance creates
Phantom limbs.
The brain sensing
Denies the rift,
But the heart
Seeking the veins
To carry its nectar
Has no where to spill its love.
We are for a moment
Apart.
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Filed under Dealing with stuff
Talking With the Kids
Tonight we had one of those suppers when we were all present at the same time and actually sat down to eat together. Well, all except the “old guy” as the kids sometimes affectionately call him. He is still in Washington DC for a course on addictions. One more day and then he is home again. Not that I am anxiously awaiting his return or anything 🙂
Anyway, we not only had supper together but we had a good discussion around the table. The kids asked my opinion on homosexual marriage and the consecrating of the Episcopal bishop. So we had a good discussion and it was interesting to hear what they thought and who thought what. It was easy to see that the reigning opinion is that people are born that way and can’t help it. I think this is becoming the opinion of the general public. And some of my kids thought that if that is the way you were born then you wouldn’t have much choice but to act that way. I threw in the idea that maybe there was some truth in the fact that some people “born this way” but that we are all born with genetic material that we can chose to use or not use. We should not say that because we have certain genetic tendancies that we can’t help the way we behave. We make choices that have a lot to do with how we live out our lives. I also stated that I have not been given the wisdom to be the ultimate judge but that there are some fairly clear statements about what God considers to be right behaviour and that goes for other things too like choosing to have heterosexual sex or express anger or to get involved in addictive substances.
My own opinions on homosexuality are still a bit fluid, so I don’t want to make dictatorial statements to my kids that make it sound like I have all the right answers. I used to be more dogmatic about what I thought about homosexuality – till I developed friendships with some people who are. It is harder to be judgemental about a friend.
We progressed to the topic of obedience. This is what the high school class at church is studying right now. The kids thought that I was too easy to obey! I am not demanding enough I guess and should tell them to do things right now and make them do them – like put their stuff away! This information is very good to have! I will try to reform!
The down side was that they thought that Leo and I should be better examples of putting our own stuff away. Silly kids.
Filed under Day to Day
Unfailing Love
This was part of my morning readings. A good reminder to start the day and to start off a busy week full of who knows what.
Psalm 36: 5 to 10
5
Your unfailing love, O LORD, is as vast as the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds.
6
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the ocean depths.
You care for people and animals alike, O LORD.
7
How precious is your unfailing love, O God!
All humanity finds shelter
in the shadow of your wings.
8
You feed them from the abundance of your own house,
letting them drink from your rivers of delight.
9
For you are the fountain of life,
the light by which we see.
10
Pour out your unfailing love on those who love you;
give justice to those with honest hearts.
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Filed under Devotional Reading
Halloween
When I was a kid, there was no big controversy about Haloween. It was just the best time of the year to get candy! And we had to think of something to dress up in in order to get the candy or go around prepared to sing or something like that. The worst thing about it was trying to think up a costume.
When we were in the Congo we had the most fun on Halloween. We had a big party and dressed up in the most ridiculous costumes and our kids went around to all the mission houses and collected homemade candy and cookies. We didn’t worry about whether this was a non-Christian thing to do till one year we had a new family decline to participate. And we being pretty isolated from the current North American religious scene began to lose the fun that up until that time we had enjoyed without guilt. I thought it was pretty obvious where the guilt was coming from – from others judgement of us not from God. Anyway, I still think Halloween can be a time of fun and dressing up and just silliness and that is good. We need to claim this day for fun and refuse to let evil intentions take it over.
That being said, it takes a lot of determination to dress up and go Trick or Treating in our weather. These kids deserve a bunch of candy. And it will keep me in buisness for a long time! 
Filed under Day to Day
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