Dentist Trips and How to Love Parenting

The chimes blow hard, and yellow leaves carpet my lawn, the gaps in the naked trees revealing more of my neighbors’ yards than I have seen yet. This uncharted territory of autumn in a new house makes everything fresh this year. 

At the dentist office this morning, four Dougans crowd into the elevator, pass under construction scaffolding, and duck into unpainted hallway entrances to the dentist. Four year old Daniel skips happily to the waiting room toys, his sky blue Buzz Light Year hoodie crumpled out backwards. Svelte eighth grade Morgan stands tall beside me, bobbed hair gracing her cheeks, sliding to cover dark eyes as she slips into a chair beside me. Towering twelfth grade John slumps sullenly into a plastic molded chair nearby, his fear of dentists looking like teen age angst, oddly unlike his usual cheerful optimism. 

As our names are called, we pass through the waiting room to an inner glass-paned viewing center, where pink dye is painted on their teeth, new toothbrushes are handed out, and my kids take turns heading in for teeth cleanings and checkups. Sitting beside my towering son on curved wooden benches, we crack jokes, I flip magazine pages, and we peek in at Daniel and Morgan who flash thumbs-up signs and blow kisses. 

Throughout the next hour and a half, my teens and I crack jokes, talk about life, and blow kisses to little Daniel who wriggles patiently on his green elevated chair behind the window pane and dreams of the Ninja prize afterwards. 

At home, college applications pile up from the mail for one son, while tiny Spiderman-underwear fly off my deck and across the lawn from another son. Teen daughter stands tall beside me each night, asking her dad, “Am I taller than Mom yet?!” 

My nose pricked today at the dentist office. Laughing and sitting shoulder to shoulder with my older kids, and blowing kisses to my Ninja-waiting preschooler, I realized how short this time with them is, and how precious they are. 

Savor each moment, my friends, of your kids, nieces and nephews, or grandkids. They are so precious. 

The wind chimes blow hard outside my window right now, and yellow leaves race by.  

I love talking with you, friends. Thank you so much for stopping by to chat. What helps you best savor times with family or friends? What is a hindrance? (To comment from email, click here.) 

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Wind chimes Photo credit 

John and Morgan photo credit to Becky Pratts