Pancakes and Perspective
By DR. JOHN F. MILLER DDS - SMILE MONTANA
My wife Juli & I are approaching our 23rd year of marriage and as we were making our famous (amongst our children) pancakes we were all debating how many times we should multiply the recipe. You see, when it was just the two of us we could do a single batch and have leftovers. Then as the kids arrived and grew in size and appetite, we first needed to double the recipe and presently a triple batch (3 teenagers and a skinny 10-year-old who can put down some flapjacks) is the requisite multiple.
Obviously, this pattern has happened across the board with my little family and all of your families I'm sure. We've had to increase the number of pizzas, cars, hotel rooms, Saturday morning donuts from Harvest Foods (IYKYK), etc. The reason I'm bringing this up is because we have peaked, reached the zenith. Our oldest child no longer lives at home and we are facing the fact of life that the next one will leave in a couple years, followed by the next and so on. Not gonna sugar coat it, it's a tough but necessary pill to swallow.
I noticed that the last time we made pancakes a triple batch was too much. The pendulum has swung and we are back into double batch territory. I never thought the act of whipping up a batch of pancakes could offer this deep of a perspective on parenting and life. But instead of feeling sad about it, I'll focus on all the pancakes, pizzas, hotel pools, car rides, and donuts we have shared up to this point. To quote The Byrds, "to everything...there is a season." There are seasons in life and just like summer to fall, I'm leaving one and entering the next whether I'm ready for it or not.
With that being said, the air is a little crisper these mornings in Northwest Montana, and soon the first yellow leaves will be crunching underfoot. While it is still technically summer, the baton is being passed to fall and with it comes that bittersweet shift in energy. Less lake time, more football. Fewer huckleberry milkshakes, more pumpkin spice everything. I'm sad about it and I love it at the same time.
Fall here has always felt like the season of trade-offs. We trade long summer evenings for earlier sunsets, but in return we get those golden-hour views of the mountains that look like they've been brushed with fire. We trade boats for backpacks, swimming holes for hunting spots, mowing the lawn for raking leaves.
Dentistry has its own season of trade-offs. Every day in my office I see patients weighing their choices: Do I fix this tooth now, or wait? Do I replace that missing molar, or just chew on the other side? Do I invest in prevention, or roll the dice and deal with problems when they come up? Each decision has a cost - in time, money, or comfort - and each comes with its own trade-off.
Here's the thing: just like with fall, not all trade-offs are bad. Sometimes the exchange is worth it. A small filling today means avoiding a root canal tomorrow. A little investment in a custom night guard means keeping your teeth for decades longer. A teeth cleaning twice a year keeps the gums healthy and the breath fresh. And flossing (yes, I'm back on my soapbox) costs about 60 seconds a day, but the return on investment is priceless in terms of comfort, cost, and... odor?!?
I often tell patients: dentistry is about managing reality, not chasing perfection. Nobody has unlimited resources, and nobody gets through life without a little wear and tear. But making thoughtful trade-offs, instead of ignoring them altogether, is what keeps us smiling well into the future. A future that hopefully sees me and Juli sharing a quadruple batch of our famous pancakes with our kids, kids-in-law, and...drumroll...grand-kids!!!
So, as you settle into your own fall routines - trading flip-flops for boots and BBQS for crockpots take a minute to think about what trade-offs you're making with your health, too. Choose the ones that give you more comfort, more happiness, and more SMILES.
Read Pancakes and Perspective and other Smile Montana articles by Dr. John F. Miller, DDS, in 406 Woman magazines.