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It Can't Get Any Better Than This...
Can It? By Dr. John F. Miller DDS
Music plays a big role in the Miller residence. We have a Spotify playlist for almost every activity, mood, and location. With titles like Pancakes, SuperChill, Puzzletime, Blackies Bay, and Big Mountain to name a few. Maxwell, who just turned four, asks me to turn on his “jam” everyday as I return home from work...without fail. “jam” is his default term for whatever song he has chosen to be his favorite. For the longest time it was Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, but more recently it is some DubStep number he heard on a television commercial called The Buzz. He dances tirelessly in his superhero underwear and yells, “again, again” when it is over. I’ll spin his “jam” a couple times but I maintain my position as the music Alpha in the house. I call the shots, set the tone, and adjust the volume. That is until recently however, as our 10-year-old daughter Nayvee has emerged as a contender. She has a powerful mix of opinion, attitude, sass, and stubborn-
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ness. This has correlated inconveniently with a new Justin Bieber album that I hate to admit has some catchy tunes. To make a short story shorter, I have learned that it’s easier just to give in to a 10-year-old with “strong opinions” and sit back and enjoy the show. Being the beta isn’t that bad.
One song in particular that the kids have on consistent rotation is by a group called Twenty One Pilots titled Stressed Out. The chorus of the song is as follows, “Wish we could turn back time, to the good ol’ days, When our momma sang us to sleep but now we’re stressed out.” The song goes on to reveal that the reasons for the stress are the normal responsibilities that come with adulthood. I found myself not only digging the tune a little bit, but also totally relating to it. Especially the line about the artist's preference for tree house homes over student loans. As my 7-year-old son Banksy strolled past singing along to the chorus I asked him, “Banks, what do you think he means by ‘the good ol’ days?’” Banksy replied, “I don’t know Dad.” So I followed up with another question, “Do you know what it means to be ‘stressed out'?" Of course his answer was “nope.” Let’s go back to the time when we were less stressed out. To the good ol’ days. When our
laughs and smiles were pure. Think of the amazing and phenomenal things we have witnessed. Things we would never believe had we not seen them with our own eyes. How many times in my life have I uttered the words, “they’ve done it, it can’t get any better than this.” How often have you thought those same things? How many of you are thinking that right now with your iPhone 6+ in your hand streaming the newest release in high definition through some magical thing called 4G LTE. Pretty dang-stinkin' unbelievable, am I right?
A little over a year ago a Dental Rep (DR) stopped in my office wanting to discuss a certain piece of dental tech called the CEREC that allowed the dentist to offer porcelain restorations in one appointment. Highly aesthetic porcelain crowns in one visit bypassing the need for a temporary, a second visit, and the possibility of having to be numbed a second time. The DR knew that I had done a live demo some years prior with the previous rep and wanted to show me the latest hardware and software upgrades. I am very much a hands-on; the proof is in the pudding type of learner and told him we would need to do another live demo. If it was as good as he sold it, the tech would sell itself.