The day after Christmas, we received word that the inside of our dental office was under a couple inches of water. Considering that Llano has seen one rainstorm since August, this was a bit perplexing. Alas, we learned the hard way that buildings can flood just as easily from within, as from without.
We arrived on scene and got straight to work. Anyone who has had a similar experience knows that all you can really do in such a situation is roll up your sleeves and get busy. Things don’t fix themselves and worrying and complaining certainly do not keep moving things forward.
As I write, we are on the eve of going back to work and getting our business back in order. It has been a hectic week or so (note to self: the week between Christmas and New Year’s is not really the best time to remodel), but we are coming out the other side intact. Actually, in some odd way, the experience has provided a few life lessons.
Things are just things, it’s people that matter. This is not really a new philosophy for me, but was emphasized the night we went to inspect the flood for the first time. My first order of business was to call our dental equipment rep who was to install some shiny new equipment the very next day. Unfortunately, she answered from a hospital room where her mom was in the ICU. Just a friendly little reminder from above about what is truly important in life.
Insurance matters. And so do the people who sell it. Insurance always seems to get a bad rap because it’s something we pay for and hope to never use. Within fifteen minutes of finding the flood, our agent and his wife were at our office with mops, towels, advice, and even refreshments for our cleanup crew. Despite having to pull off their only daughter’s wedding the week of our mishap, they checked in every day. At times, I felt like I was in a commercial.
It’s good to know people. One of my favorite things about dentistry is that we get to treat and meet people from all walks of life. It was amazing to me the patients, family, and friends who put aside their holiday plans and rallied to help us out with plumbing, flooring, and advice. Good people are why we moved to the hill country.
Finally, I learned that we are blessed with a great team and a wonderful group of patients. Calling and rescheduling a couple of weeks worth of appointments is a daunting task. People make time in their schedule for dental care and it is quite embarrassing to inconvenience them by moving their appointments. While making these calls, we received many more words of encouragement than we did negativity. Good people understand and we talked to a lot of good people last week.
I truly believe that everything happens for a reason. In some way, the last week has been a gentle reminder of what is truly important in life. Have a happy and blessed 2011.
Until next week, keep smiling.
-Please send comments to Drs. Parrish at www.ParrishDental.com.
