Little Old Ladies On Scooters

    Tell the truth.  What really makes the day more fun and everything we do worth doing?  It's the little old ladies on scooters.  It's the sweet old widowers that vow to never marry again because they've had the best, they won't mess with the rest.  It's the funny lady who confides all manner of local gossip in the most innocent tone with the devilish twinkle in her eye.  It's the scared little boy, trying to act tough who squeezes the feeling out of your hand during his injection and then looks the dentist in the eye and says, "That didn't hurt!"
    It's the wonderful human beings who give you the chance to be your best.  Without them, you'd be doing something else.  One of my favorite little old(?) ladies on a scooter was in today.  I question the designation of old because Kay is ageless.  She's funny as heck, irreverent, brilliant, a handful sometimes (like when she wants to deal with the pain rather than deal with the root canal she knows she needs) and hysterical when she looks at me and says, "Get over it" when I try to talk her into doing what she doesn't want to do. 
    These are the people you get excited about when you see their name on the schedule because they bring so much life and fun into the day.  They get you pumped for the day.  They're the people you can really be yourself around.  It's like visiting with a friend whose mouth you happen to stick your fingers into. We had a man in yesterday who had moved so we hadn't seen him in over 2 years.  As soon as I called him back he smiled and said, "How ya doin' Linda?"  I was ridiculously pleased that he remembered my name and even happier that he seemed so glad to see me.  It's those relationships that develop that make a difference between just going to work and be excited to get going.  One thing we've got going for us in dentistry is that if you have a curmudgeon in your chair at 9:00, you may have a sweetie sitting there at 10:00.  Things never stay too bad for long.
    I've said before that many times we focus on and talk about problems and whatever it is that we think is wrong in our world.  That's why grouchy patients get to us and we go home and gripe about the rude thing someone said.  Here's a better idea.  Tell your family all about the little old ladies on scooters.  Share the fun things with them. Hopefully, you'll teach your children to look past the storms for the rainbows.  Maybe you'll find yourself with more to smile about.  Then you can share that smile with all the widowers who knew a good thing when they had it and all the little old ladies on scooters.