More Than Assistance

More than Assistance

So I’m smart enough to know I can be a slow study…make that a reeeally slow study. But last week, the old noodle’s RPM coulda been timed with a sun dial, or maybe even a calendar. That snowflake unique place between my two large sound receptacles was either doing some serious recovery time or maybe traveling, without warning, into “…a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man…an area we call ... The (dumbass) Twilight Zone.”

Last Thursday, two of the classiest, most thoughtful and important women in my life had to remind me the first week in March was National Dental Assistant Recognition Week.

And seven days ago, Dental Assistants Extraordinaire Dani and Kolleen would have probably settled for a lunch on the boss’s dime…but that would have been far too little if not too late.

Dani joined Temple City Dental Care some twelve years ago. Within weeks, on her own initiative, Dani did an inventory of our supplies. Within a year or two, Dani was leading community projects and winning a national award for Dental Assistant of the Year. Today, Dani is our team leader and future office manager.

Kolleen is undoubtedly the most thoughtful person I’ve ever known; she’s a genius at lifting a patient’s or co-worker’s spirits and she’s never met a person she couldn’t engage with a smile and a compliment. Kolleen is always about twelve steps ahead of me and I love that she furnishes feedback for “moi” just like my mom used to do. Kolleen joined our practice about a year after Dani and they are truly a Dream Team.

And I don’t have children (although that kid who called me “Papa” at the Arcadia Park tennis courts definitely got my attention) but if I did I’d be proud as the NBC logo to have daughters just like Dani and Kolleen.

Of course, in my fatherly eyes, there are no boyfriends/husband prospects good enough for either Dani or Kolleen. Kolleen’s boyfriend reads too fast and once shared he just wanted to see a close USC football game. I’m a little more accepting of Dani’s beau since he served multiple stints in Iraq and Afghanistan as a sniper and carries large heavy objects just like some kind of a worker ant.

Dani and Kolleen make job descriptions obsolete; they do so much more than I can put on paper or a computer screen. They’re honest; they’re kind, and they look and listen for opportunities to brighten someone else’s day as naturally as Mozart composed symphonies. And once you meet their families, you know Dani and Kolleen aren’t the Gold Standard by accident.

So I guess the best I can do is apologize in public…and move the TCDC version of Dental Assistant Recognition Week to March 9-15…and beyond…plus some other stuff that will hopefully come close to expressing how much I appreciate two special ladies who add richness to so many lives, especially mine.

I gave up swearing for Lent but I think, for the next 40-days and beyond, I’ll be adding “I appreciate” to the mix as much as possible.

Here’s to Dani and Kolleen, I appreciate you every day of the year…and I love you guys. Thanks for all you do.