by

The World of Adoption

Let me tell you, the process of selecting individuals to adopt a baby is hard work.  I can imagine what it must be like to some degree to be hunting for a spouse online.  I really prefer doing things in person.  Since the person with the baby doesn’t have access to the internet at home, I offered to help do the search.  I have reached out to friends, family, and the LDS Social Services website to find those who might provide a good home.
On the good side, the response has been wonderful.  I am learning a whole lot about an area I really did not know existed.  What is more, it is much more extensive, organized, and larger than I would have ever thought.  Many have responded and contacted me and many have been culled from the crowd by LDS Social Services’ rules and restrictions.  On a good note, I did find a cousin of mine who announced to his family they were going to adopt and his sister just happened to know I was looking for someone.  We made the connection and are working to see if we can follow that end through.
Just as with missionary work, you don’t focus all your attention on just one or two when they might fall through.  I spent probably a good six hours on the LDS website working through all the biographies on there.  I think I reviewed every single one of them to one degree or another and have a list of about 30 couples that caught my eye and felt good.  I have shared that list with the birth mother but plan on narrowing the list down to about 15.  I just have to spend a few more hours in order to work through their profiles more closely.  I am quite impressed with the variety of individuals though that are in those 30.  I was afraid when I started I would only choose photogenic couples or younger ones.  But such has not been the case.  I think they extend to all ages, all sizes, educational backgrounds, ect.  They are all over the country as well.  I know there are another couple or two who are going through what they need to for them to be considered an option.
On the whole, this whole scenario has raised the profile of adoption.  As I have visited with people it is funny how many people will not be available for this baby but are seriously registering so they can adopt in the future.  So what might be a sticky situation for the birthmother here is in my view working some great things.
I will tell you, I continue to have some sleeplessness at night in concern for this child who isn’t even mine.  But as I help work through and select parents to raise this child, I feel a certain affinity for him.  What is even more interesting, I think of all the children who have been adopted before.  How much time, effort, and money that has gone into each one.
There is so much planning and consideration that goes into place for any child to be born.  But it is a whole new array of choices and decisions to make for an adoption, at least where we get to play a part in it.  Even then, social workers and many people still work to make the adoption work.  If it doesn’t benefit anything else, I know it has benefitted me.  I have had to weigh all the options in the possilibity of us taking this baby.  Then when we just couldn’t make that work, trying to work out for others to have the opportunity, help them to plan, and keep the birthmother’s plate as little as possible has been a chore.  It has had its rewards though.
It truly takes a community even to bring a baby into this world.  At least to do it well.  It only expands from there.  It is amazing the world we live in!
by

Crowns, Adoption, and Lewdness

The final episode of the tooth isn’t quite as interesting a tale as were the previous two.  Therefore, I will have to cap it off, literally, with just saying it went smoothly and I was out within an hour.  In my remaining space, here are a few updates on life.
Amanda and I have been approached to consider adopting a child that is coming available in December.  Due to the circumstances we have tried to exhaust our mental processes for the positive and negatives sides of this situation.  For the most part we have determined we simply cannot do this right now.  It either means and end to Amanda’s schooling or costs in daycare that would put us far beyond our income.  Therefore, if you know of a good couple who are looking for a child to adopt, please let me know.
I am watching with shock at the latest releases regarding Idaho’s Senator Larry Craig.  I am ashamed a public servant could be so utterly selfish as to bring such disregard upon those he represents.  Whether he is guilty of the crime or not, the ineptitude is such to warrant his resignation or removal from office.  A writer of our laws cannot make a coherent decision of whether to plead guilty or not?  What is more, when his moral character is at stake he was willing to take a guilty plea to make it go away.  Sounds like too little integrity to me.  It seems that if a persons character is at stake, they should be willing to give all to defend in honesty that good name.  That should ring all the more true when the person’s character represents nearly 1.5 million people!  While Senator Craig has done much good, sadly such a blemish can undermine all he has done and render him useless in the future.  It is time to switch employment if he thinks these actions in a restroom are befitting of a representative of the State of Idaho and the United States of America.
by

Hands off Higher Ed

Wall Street Journal

12 May 2007

Hillsdale, Mich. – From the first days of federal aid to higher education, instinct told us such aid would carry with it obligations that, in the words of Bill Buckley, “a free university ought not to undertake.”  Over the past 50 years a few private colleges and universities across America, including Hillsdale College, where I am president, have paid the price to keep their independence.

No part of the billions from federal taxpayers that go annually to our competitors comes to us.  In the past, our families were even prevented from taking the limited tax deductions available for college tuition.  We face the annual challenge of keeping up with the rapid growth of subsidies to higher education.

Today we watch with trepidation an attempt to establish federal control over all colleges and universities, including our campus.  Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings wants to extend the testing and standards requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act to colleges.  The specific details of what these testing an standards would entail are unclear, but are likely to be determined by education department regulators over the next several months.

President Bush and Ms. Spellings have brought a new approach to education reform at the federal level.  They have good motives and a fair appraisal of the situation, at least in K-12 education.  But national standards and testing in higher education will only strengthen a bureaucracy that already plagues an otherwise highly competitive system.

Mr. Bush and Ms. Spellings will not be around long enough to write the rules of this new program.  They will leave behind them a much larger department, now armed with the tools to influence education to a much greater extent.  Ms. Spellings often uses the language of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society in her speeches.  Since Sept. 11, 2001, spending on higher education has grown at rates greater than, say, the Defense Department.

National standards are unnecessary in higher education.  There are already plenty of accountability tools available to students and their parents – starting with the ability to pick up and go elsewhere.  There are more than 2,000 accredited four-year colleges in the country.  At Hillsdale we have long survived by attracting private capital and good students to our campus, so we are well aware that universities compete for students, donations and top-notch professors every year.  We also know that those institutions that allow their standards to slip will soon find their best students and faculty members migrating elsewhere.

These facts notwithstanding, Ms. Spelling’s efforts to impose nationalized college testing began in earnest last fall when her National Commission on the Future of Higher Education issued its final report and recommended the new testing mandate.  Republicans – had they maintained control of Congress – might have gone along.  Instead Ms. Spellings is now attempting to impose the mandate through the backdoor by forcing college accreditation agencies to start demanding that the tests be imposed.

The accrediting agencies are now almost 100 years old, and colleges use them to learn about themselves and to demonstrate competence by third-part testimony.  The accrediting agencies have for the most part respected the mission and purpose of the institutions they review.  But since the federal government became a major funder of colleges, the accrediting agencies are the gateway to that money.  This makes them, as much as the recipient colleges, creates of federal policy.

Several weeks of tense “negotiated rule-making” between the department and the accrediting agencies have just ended without agreement.  The department has invited a representative of the largest accrediting agency to step down from the consulting panel because of her recalcitrance.  Meanwhile the department threatens to impose common standards in accrediting without agreement from the accreditors.  This is the opposite of competition and diversity.

Reform is certainly needed in higher education.  But we should be discussing tax credits not uniform standards.  We should be thinking about tax-free saving accounts for college rather than rules and subsidies.

Here in south central Michigan, we are used to being recalcitrant.  Living by private resources for more than a century and a half, we have supported the principles of “civil and religious liberty and intelligent piety” that have been the core of our public mission since the founding day.  We succeed today by the requirement of a tough core curriculum, recruitment of a talented student body committed to an honor code, and by remembering the relationship between liberal education and a free society.

Mr. Arnn is the president of Hillsdale College.

by

TV’s and such

It seems to be one of those weeks where there isn’t necessarily a whole lot to tell.  So to make an entry, and anything with a little length, I will offer a smattering of thoughts from all over the spectrum.
A big Happy Birthday to Chris Horsley and Amanda Smith on the 14th.  I sent them both e-mails and wished them the best.  It is my Aunt Jackie’s birthday on the 25th, so Happy Birthday ahead of time.
Tuesday night Amanda and I went to pay a visit to Doris Coley.  She lives over in Laurel Fork area.  Amanda has worked with her for some time at Macy’s.  She lured Amanda over there in pursuit of a free TV and DVD player.  I really don’t care if we own either and would actually prefer not to.  That is just a little more weight I will have to worry about moving in a year and another distraction to take away some of what little time we mortals have been given.  Somehow I had come to believe it was a venture where we would go over and pick up the newly acquired property and head back home.  We made an evening of it.  We chatted about the nice lovely pleasantries of the life at Macy’s.  Conversation turned to life in general and school.  Of course I did a full analysis to see if her Coley line could in any way be related to mine (Hers is several hundreds of years in North Carolina making at least that long of a connection seeing how mine came directly from England).
She had a nice little piano in her living room that also became conversation.  She invited me to play it and before long I was in my own land while the women pondered paths I didn’t care to walk.  Before the night had ended we sang some hymns and even ended in a discussion about religion.  I ended the evening with giving her a copy of the Book of Mormon and basically a first discussion.  Sometimes I feel I am not as bold as I once was.  Honestly, it seems that one relies upon their companion so much to bear testimony and Amanda had no clue of the missionary ways that I think that is the only reason it felt pretty weak.  Sadly, I think both of us relied on trying to convince too much rather than just bearing testimony and letting the Spirit drive it to the heart.  Amanda left thinking we had been too bold and I left thinking we had not been bold enough.  She called us a few days later and made sure we were still planning on coming back.  Either way, we don’t seem to have offended.  I look forward to a return visit and whether or not she read any of the newly introduced sacred scripture.
Tonight I paid a visit to the Family History Library outside my normal working hours.  We had a pretty severe thunderstorm this evening and the two ladies working inside decided to go watch the storm for a minute.  Sadly, they left their keys in the library.  I rushed down thinking I would find two drowned older ladies.  Luckily enough they had only locked themselves out of the library, and not the building.  So I spent some time visiting with them about the Merrick’s of Maine/Massachusetts.  They decided to leave early so I played the piano and practiced some singing until a member of the Stake Presidency appeared to practice basketball.
Tuesday night at the library also proved to be interesting.  For the second week in a row a young man who is a recent convert came into the library to do some research.  He appeared with his laptop last week with PAF newly downloaded.  He started putting in his family.  He is preparing to go to the temple and wanted to do some of his own names for baptisms in about two weeks.  He never even knew who his Dad was last week.  This week he came back with dates and places and interestingly, was able to link him into the Cosby line.  Once we did that we were able to take him back to Jamestowne and even followed the line back 1,000 years.  He comes from a noble line in England.  He was amazed to find ancestors on both of his lines whose temple work had been done.  Some as early as 1932 in the Mesa, Arizona Temple.  I look forward to seeing him this coming Tuesday when we run these names through TempleReady.
Last Sunday we had our Stake Priesthood Meeting.  We were introduced to the new Mission President, President Millburn.  I prefer him much more than the last one.  He seems much more humble and able to connect with an audience.  In addition, he gave a great talk on fishing.  He is an expert at it, that is for sure.  Who else uses a stomach pump on a fish?  President Mullins (who interrupted my singing and playing tonight) gave a talk about various topics.  One was that individuals in the stake are not carrying their weight in fast offerings.  I thought that was interesting.  None of the other talks I remember.  However, the power in the singing was easily felt.
Today I was branded again at work due to a broker’s dishonesty.  A man gave me a complete sob story about why an appraisal was sufficient.  He manipulated my inexperience in working someone else’s loan, added with the other person not recording what they had done, and my not being thorough enough to catch the little red flags has now cost the bank a loan which is considered a risk and investors will not buy it.  Due to my approving of an updated appraisal, that wasn’t really updated, and the bank always standing by their word somebody got away with money that probably would not have been approved.  Like speeding tickets with points, I have now gained my first and hope they will wear off over time…  It is a good thing I no longer have access to that broker’s information for I would surely give him a phone call and let him know how sorely disappointed I am in him.  At any rate, “Let God choose between me and thee and reward thee according to thy deeds.”
Terry McComb’s funeral is going to be this coming Saturday.  I so wish I could be there.  Alas, we can’t do everything we want in life.  His obituary appeared today in the Times News.  I looked at it this morning at work.  I am looking forward to having my own clipping from the newspaper for my records.  I guess I will just have to pay a visit to the cemetery next time I get back to Idaho.  I so planned on spending a day or two in Branson on the way home for a lesson or two.  I guess I won’t now, at least stay for lessons.
We are headed up to Washington, DC again this weekend to attend the temple.  I am very much looking forward to it.  I have very much felt my faith increase this week and my soul feeling greatly nourished after some experiences in the scriptures.  2 Peter 2 and Ether 12 were powerful this week.
We received the Church News today and I read the parts about the new Brazil Temple.  I was thinking how excited President Faust must be to have the temple dedication coming up and realized he had passed away.  I guess he will be there at any rate, but not with a mortal body.  I wonder who will be called next.  I surely hope it is someone independent from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.  I certainly think tradition and order are a good thing but it is always nice to shake things up from time to time.  Too often people get so rigid about the way things should be done we forget the role of inspiration being mixed in the bag.  I would really like to see a President of the Church not be the most senior Apostle.  How would that be for shaking things up?  We need more John Winder’s, Reuben Clark’s, Jedediah Grant’s, Hyrum Smith’s, and Charles Nibley’s in the world.
Lastly, I will end on a political note.  I haven’t had a political candidate really catch much of the sympathies of my heart.  They seem so canned and stale I can’t stand it.  However, Obama gave a comment this week about opening up government.  Boy, if reading an article ever stopped my heart, that was one of them.  A candidate willing to give full disclosure to the public?  If that becomes his whole purpose in life, I will most certainly vote for that man.  Well, that is only after he drops universal health care.  After my experiences in England,  will never support government ran health care.  But open disclosure?  How refreshing.  That requires more effort.  That requires doing things you know the whole country can be privy to.  Where would Bill Clinton be if he had known that?  How would things be different with Bush?  Either of them?  Watergate?  Iran-Contra?  New Deal?  War?  How would the world be different?
by

Farewell to Terry

 

Yesterday early afternoon I received a phone call to notify me of the death of a dear friend.  There is always an interesting surge of emotions with the death of a person, especially one you feel such a kinship with.  Somehow though, I couldn’t help but feel a total sense of relief and release.

Terry McCombs was born in Rupert, Idaho and grew up on the farm outside of Rupert.  He graduated from Minico in probably its most notable time.  He went to school when Minico was known nationally for its band program.  The high school was still under 10 years old and Southern Idaho was in the Post-war boom.  Some of his mentors both in choir and band were to forever influence his life.  There was something about the farm soil and the passion of music that set Terry on his future.

I met Terry for the first time in 1997.  I had been asked to accompany a friend, Elena McBride, on the piano for a vocal number she was doing.  She wanted me to meet her vocal coach, Terry McCombs.  There was a McComb’s in my grade who I knew and one just younger who was in choir and who I knew more through friends.  These both turned out to be Terry’s niece’s.  Our meeting took place in Terry’s childhood home where his mother still lived with Terry’s brother’s family.  We sat there at the piano and I played perhaps a few chords when Terry asked me if I sang.  I confessed that I had no singing talent whatsoever and had never really tried.  He took over at the piano bench and then began to have me try a few exercises.  He attempted for hours to get beyond my modesty (my attempt to cover a poor voice).  After several hours, Elena’s lesson turned into an reworking of my thinking concerning singing.  For the most part of which he was very successful at rewiring.  Afterward I remember Elena being upset that her lesson was all about a lesson for me.

Terry had me commit to come to a lesson with him in a studio apartment he was using within about a mile from his home.  It was a little bedroom in the loft and a little living room below with a couch and piano.  I seem to remember a small kitchen and bathroom in the entry level.  We descended into the little living room about a week later and he sat on the couch and I sat in the chair.  Terry always had it a bit on the cool side but it definitely was cozy.  He then spent about an hour teaching me the doctrine of singing.  I remember him offering a prayer that seemed to turn my heart to complete mush.  I was so overwhelmed at such a powerful experience.  Coming from an inactive LDS home, I had no real clue what it was I was experiencing.  I had prayed before, and even seen prayers answered, but never had I experienced what I did that day.  Heaven literally descended and engulfed us that day.

After teaching me on the doctrines of the restoration of all things and of singing he then went on to teach me what he knew and how he knew it.  He bore powerful testimony of what it was he was teaching that day.  I remember openly weeping for the joy that engulfed my heart and how I recognized my life changing before my very eyes.  My very nature was changing in that room.  We then went to the piano and he began to unravel to me some of my physical nature.  I admit I understood more the nature of my throat, singing, and of life then than at any point in my life, probably even since.  It was interesting how he always framed everything with a view for eternity and the building of Zion.

What came from my mouth, from my very heart, was so beautiful we both wept.  Terry sang a song for me that even today haunts me with how beautiful it was.  He then sang a song from Rigoletto that was simply amazing.  He sat at the piano and I sang a song that day which I have not been able to sing since.  It haunts me how beautifully I sang and it kills me I have not been able to sing like that since.  There was such an outpouring of the Spirit.  I do not know if I can ever share what happened that day.  The gifts of the Spirit were present and angels ministered to us.

We met many, many times again in that little elevator to the heavens.  Sadly, I don’t know what happened after a couple of months.  Whether it was my pride or influences in his life, but it began to falter.  We started meeting again in his parents house and doing lessons there which were interrupted and never of much value.  We then started meeting in his home, the old out garage converted into a studio/living room connected to a trailer.  It was never quite the same.  I really don’t know why to this day.

My Senior year at Minico brought the musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.  I don’t remember how many lessons before the play I had with Terry but I had such a zeal with singing now I auditioned for the play.  I had been singing in the choir now for a little while.  I totally bombed the audition but somehow I was still put in as one of the brother’s.  Honestly, I did so poorly I didn’t know if they would let me even be a dancer.  That is how badly I auditioned vocally.  I could never translate how I could sing in lessons to doing it in front of other people.  I was terrible when anyone else listened.  Even the State Solo Competition I sang for and did so poorly I didn’t even finish the song.  The choir helped me some.  Good thing it was an open class.

Terry helped a number of us quite a bit with our singing for that play.  I improved considerably under Terry but never could find the voice I had in our lessons on stage.  It drove me completely crazy to know how heavenly it could be and it just never translated outside the studio.  Our lessons continued and I learned a great deal.  We continued to cover the history of music and the mechanics of the voice.  All of which I still feel like I have a pretty good handle since I was learning them from a spiritual perspective.

Minico ended and my whole life had now become engulfed in music.  I had my musical training from band all the way from 6th grade.  I could read and understood basics of music.  I had taught myself a half dozen new instruments in high school and I wrapped up high school putting on finishing touches to play the piano in the mission and learning the master the voice.

I went to Utah State knowing how much I loved music but I would not be pursuing a degree in anything related to it.  It was completely my hobby.  I went home at least every couple of weeks.  Due to situations at home I would either stay with my Grandma or I would stay with Terry.  We often spent all Friday night in a lesson.  It was something about the two of us that somehow we connected and heaven was with us.  I don’t know if he had these experiences with others.  I know he had in the past but I sensed it wasn’t happening with others at the time.  He often expressed his frustration with me at how he wished others wanted to learn just for the sake of learning rather than trying to do it for publicity, pride, or money.  He knew I had nothing to pay him and I wasn’t about to ask my parents for more money since they were helping me through school.  I think that is one thing that changed later.  When his situation got a bit more desperate and he needed money I had nothing to offer and he was required to spend his time teaching paying students.

The time came for the mission and I was prepared.  My own research and experience on my own time had gained me many experiences with the Spirit.  I had come to gain a personal testimony of the Bible, Book of Mormon, Prophets and Apostles, Priesthood, and a bunch more.  I think one thing that was unique is that Terry had opened me up to a very different side of religion.  It wasn’t just the knowledge of it or doctrines, but it was the personal experiences with it.  Through college our lessons moved from the vocal aspects to mostly discussing religion and sharing experiences.  I had obtained many new experiences with heaven and Terry had a wealth of them to share as well.  I think many thought I was a bit crazy with how literally I was experiencing my associations with the other side of the veil but Terry always understood.  I remember my Grandma would get so excited when I told her about some of the experiences.  She would tell me of some of her own.  Mom I instantly recognized was out to kill or denounce anything of which I was experiencing.  She quickly would tell me how it was a cult and I was being brainwashed.  When I would confront her about how literally some of my experiences were she would chalk it up to hallucinating or something else.  Terry and Grandma were two who understood.

It was such an interesting road.  My roommates at college I don’t think knew how to take what was happening.  Some were very understanding at the beginning, others finally warmed to it.  By the end of the school year at Utah State we had all experienced some things together.  The turmoil and emotions of the year were difficult with my parents divorcing and the changing face in so many relations.  The roommates weathered all those and were very understanding.  But the thing I remember most is the little spiritual times I had with each of them and interestingly have bonded each of us together since.  All four of them we continue to feel very closely united even despite distance and time.

Terry offered to have someone provide the musical number for the mission farewell.  He did and I was very grateful.  Surprisingly, he offered some money to help pay for the mission that makes me blush that he would give it to me.  He never wrote a letter, I don’t think I ever wrote him a letter during those two years, but we had communication.  I remember one night I had a dream of a phone call to Terry while I served in Eccles.  It was after my Grandmother had passed away.  We chatted about a few things and I told him of my experiences with Grandma after she passed away.  He told me of some of the experiences he had with his own father after he passed away.  It helped confirm what I was experiencing.  In the dream he told me to get a copy of Parley P Pratt’s Autobiography and to read it.  After I returned home from the mission and had been home a few weeks, Terry called me.  What I had totally passed off as a powerfully spiritual dream came very close to home when he asked if I enjoyed Brother Pratt’s book.  That is just the way Terry was.

Terry asked me to come to visit him in Branson, Missouri after I returned from the mission.  I went to visit him in a heartbeat.  Terry wanted to start lessons again and asked me to move to Branson.  I went back home and made arrangements and headed out for Missouri.  It turned out to be a wonderful experience.  I thoroughly loved my time while I was there.  He mentioned that I was there for two purposes: To learn to love in a way unselfishly and to gain some great experience to carry me throughout my life.  He proved to be very prophetic on both accounts.  I learned to love in several ways which hurt terribly.  I definitely learned some lessons there.  I learned some valuable lessons in management, the corporate world, missionary work outside the mission, and family history.

Terry and I both lived under the same roof with several other families the first year I was there.  It turned to be a very wonderful experience.  I had three families I could call my own in the same house.  Each of them taught me some very important lessons.  Without going into details, it proved to be a time I still find myself thankful for in prayer.

I remember one night I had a dream where I had a dream in answer to a prayer.  I woke up afterwards and immediately went to knock on Terry’s door.  At 3:00 AM in the morning I recounted to him my experience and we both wept for joy.  He shared with me an experience where one of his prayers had been answered by dream just nights before.  This was the type of connection I had with Terry.

Interestingly, it is how merciful heaven is in dealing with us.  Terry definitely had a personality.  Some characteristics I will openly admit drove me crazy.  His little antics sometimes were detestable at how he treated others.  Even me a couple of times.  At other times I could not help but feel sorry for him with the struggles he had on so many fronts.  He had a temper.  He had his bias nature.  He had all his imperfections.  He was not a physically beautiful man by any real means.  However, his heart was something different.  I sat in on many lessons and it was interesting how completely different some of them were.  Some of them it seemed he was trying to impress them so he could gain their trust.  Some it seemed he had to debase himself to get the heart.  Others it appeared he had to bully them.  Every lesson was very different.  I never understood if he was catering to the personality of each or what it was.  My lessons were very direct, even almost unspoken at times.  It was not uncommon for a look to communicate everything.

When it came time for my leaving Branson, we both knew.  I only saw Terry a couple of times after that.  In fact, I think it was only twice after.  Once was in Utah and the last time was a year ago as Amanda and I drove on our way to Virginia.  We stopped and spent several hours with him.

I spoke with him on the phone for over an hour just a month or so ago and he was in good spirits.  It was with a bit of shock I received the phone call telling me he had passed the night before.  Somehow though, it seems like it would be the way Terry would do it though.  My first reaction was that little scoundrel did this on purpose.  But then I sensed a peace about the whole thing and it was meant to be.

In looking back, Terry always introduced me to people as the one with a pure soul.  I don’t know if it is true or not, but I always wanted to be a little better with that title.  Terry always had people who either loved or hated him.  People somehow switched those sides often with him.  I never understood why.  But something about the man endeared people and also brought on some of the strongest criticism.  But in the end he usually weathered it well.

I haven’t had any experiences with Terry spiritually for a couple of years now.  Perhaps we just grew apart.  But now that he has passed, I anticipate something small, at least for a temporary good bye.  If not, this is my little pushing off the ship of a good friend.  I will see you later mate.  I love your soul.

by

Tooth Saga, Episode 3

Today’s visit to the dentist was rather uneventful.  Something for which I am grateful.  The last few visits were memorable enough I found the dentist joking with the assistants in an inside joke sort of way.  Nice to know I may have made some of the office lore.
Today’s visit was pretty simple.  Remove the temporary filling once again and prepare the tooth for the crown.  The numbing of the tooth went pretty much as it is supposed to.  He only gave me one shot today.  Even though the outside of my jaw was still mostly in contact with my brain, I wasn’t about to take another chance of him hitting the nerve again.  In the end it didn’t hurt too bad, it was just the pulling of the gum away from the tooth and cauterizing it that was a bit painful, but I didn’t go white knuckled.
I did not appreciate the time the material was in my mouth for the impression.  I didn’t realize it, but I was drooling down the side of my cheek while Dr. Spitzer chatted about what the purpose is of the different military bases in Virginia.  I did not notice until I felt it running down my neck and then tried to wipe myself up with my little bib.
He visited with me about Germany and where best to find authentic German food here near Richmond.  Apparently the best place is out north of Charlottesville at some little place called The Bavarian Chef.  Perhaps we will have to celebrate when I have the crown and I need not worry about any more dental work.  On second though, maybe we better save our cash in order to pay for the long series of dental visits.  It is conforting to know my money will go to a worthwhile cause for the dentist; helping to pay for his Mercedes.  While dwelling on I will consider the feeling of gums trying to recuperate from being ripped away from the side of the tooth.
by

Rolling Along

The inevitable finally came.  Amanda and I overcame one of the only sources of tension in our relationships.  Getting places early.  It also helped remove the other problem, getting places.
With Amanda in school and soon to be traveling to different areas required for school we both knew she would need the car.  So I had the option of being dropped off at work at 6:00 AM and leaving work at about 6:00 PM or of purchasing another vehicle.  As much as I enjoy overtime, I am not sure work would allow me that much and I would probably spend a considerable amount of time at work probably for free.  Or I guess reading a book or something else which would look highly suspicious doing at work.
On top of that, the one thing I almost cannot stand is being late.  Add into the equation a female and somehow 15 minutes early for me turns into 15 minutes late.  After vowing to leave her from now on, we decided this was an alternative to the times I arrive at church so flaming mad I don’t even want to be there.
We figured to rent a moving truck to move back across the country would cost about $2500-$3000.  That is just the rent, not including the fuel of the drive.  Plus we would be limited to driving pretty much straight to our destination.  We could have a moving company move all our furniture for us for another grand or so more.  The other alternative was to make an investment in a vehicle we could use to move and we could then keep our money rather than throw it at renting or paying movers.  So we set our eyes to looking for a little pickup that was under $5000.
This little pickup fell into our presence through Craig’s List.  For $3500 it was quite the steal.  He told us flat out he just wanted to sell it and that is why he dropped the price some below Kelly Blue Book.  I didn’t complain.  Took it for a spin, liked the truck and we shook hands.  Next thing I knew we met a week or two later and we shook hands and exchanged a check for a title.  Take a picture at the truck in the Virginia Living album.
I insured it Monday night, the day before we purchased it.  Today it was registered and I put the new plates on it.  We are now ready to roll.
I do have a few things I want to have checked by the local Ford dealership, but otherwise I am pleased with the newest addition to our family.
by

Tooth Saga, Episode 2

I have continued my little foray into the field of dental work.  Today turned out to be another adventure in the ongoing saga of the tooth.

After arriving at Dr. Spitzer’s office and going through the “hello”, “we miss Amanda”, and “we want Amanda to work here next year” I was shown to my lovely seat.  For all intents and purposes being led to a reclining chair in any situation is a good experience.  I laid there for a little while, watched the flowers and birds outsides, and pondered the giant homemade wire spider’s web on the wall (complete with spider and fly soldered onto it).

The Dr. arrived and after all the usual pleasantries quickly administered the Novocain.  Here began the fun.  Upon inserting the needle the highly trained dentist went straight for the nerve and hit he did!  He kind remarked, very observantly, after I came back in contact with my seat was, “hmmm, looks like we hit the nerve.”  It seemed that the two front bottom teeth on my left had exploded.  As usual it took several shots to fully deaden the bottom half of my jaw.  That was of course after I was able to relax and open my mouth to allow him to administer more numbing juice.

Inward our expedition took us as we removed the temporary filling from the last trip into my mouth.  Then the little cotton balls with a strange smell of antiseptic and a week of rotten saliva and dead tooth.  He then took to filing and working the chambers large enough to do a proper and thorough filling.

Meanwhile the Dr. spoke with the assistant about the latest adventures of her love life.  Amy is currently seeing a man who is completely jealous that Amy’s ex-husband lives four doors down from her current location.  Apparently he things she is going to go running back to him.  Sounds like she could sneak through the back alley if it was really her intent.  Somehow I don’t have much interest in another person’s love life while the insides of a tooth are being filed away.  Perhaps it is the wrenching open of the mouth in order to fit the pudgy fist of the dentist in there to begin with.

Finally when I thought the muscles of my jaw were to lock instantly, he finished up.  Part of the problem was they had to take the stoppers off the files since my roots are so long.  Even then he complained they were not getting far enough down.  He borrowed some drilling tool on one sort or another from the other dentist in the office and went to excavating the roots with a drill.

Of course, we should have known it would happen.  The little drill, I think he called it a perha or some variation of the name, became so beleaguered it decided to give up and snap.  We then spent 20 minutes trying to remove the drill piece stuck down inside the root.

Finally it came time to put the little rubber stop in the bottom of the root with some spring type of drill.  He thought it went in just fine and went to work filling everything in.  Then if the appointment hadn’t gone well over time yet the Dr. started to complain to Amy to “thin it out”.  It was a stern and irritated voice with which he spoke.  Finally after another few moments the dentist said that we had screwed it up and would have to try over.  Apparently the filling was too thick and he was not convinced the completely filled the roots.

He very generously let me sit there for a few minutes so my jaw could relax while the cement hardened and he could go take care of some other patients.  He then returned and went into the process of removing all the filling he had just placed inside the tooth.  My cheek muscles were on fire and I was gripping the arm rests not from any form of pain but the struggle from involuntarily locking my mouth shut for the next four hours.

After it was all cleared out again, he watched Amy prepare the filling again.  By this point some of the feeling is starting to reappear in my mouth.  Last appointment I had near full feeling back at just 3 hours after the appointment.  Two hours were now up and I could feel some sensitivity in the cheek from being wedged open and my lip from being so stretched.

The Dr. was kind enough to inform me that after the appointment he would take Amy to the back room and would discipline her for her terrible behavior and my suffering.  Apparently he was going to take a cattle prod and shock her a few times.  He commented that women expect that kind of treatment by men when they need discipline.  I was not aware of that perhaps….

It could not have come to soon.  He had finished filling the roots and we were basically done.  He informed me we would have to take an x-ray to verify we had completely filled the roots.  I warned him of impending danger if they were not full and needed to be redone.  He laughed a laugh which showed no fear and left the room.  The x-ray turned out to give full evidence saving the life of all in the office.  The x-ray was developed improperly though and would go dark in about 20 minutes necessitating another x-ray.  We took another x-ray, which I reasoned I could withstand, and it was completed.

The time arrived to make a follow up appointment.  Next Wednesday, again at 8 AM, I start the next phase of treatment; the grinding of the tooth, impressions, and the temporary crown.  Boy, am I excited!