Every once in a while I like to think I'm a good mother. I'm dependable and a good guidance counselor to my kids. But lately, I have not been dependable. I did not pick up my youngest when I told him I would. I was helping a young doctor when he was stuck with a surgical extraction. I couldn't leave the patient or the doctor. The seniority in me made me stay. My child understood and walked home in the heat. As for my second child, I can't even begin to tell you how many after school activities I missed for him. When it starts at 3pm, I'm working. When it ends at 5pm, I'm still working.
But I made it up with my oldest. I shortened my meetings to attend her last choir concert at school. My youngest came with me and supported his sister. She was honored with her peers and I was a proud mom. Even Bob cried when I showed her the video of my daughter playing the violin to Taylor Swift's Enchanted song. Then again, Bob cries at almost anything.
I also attended her last orchestra concert. She has been a part of this youth production for almost 10 years. The manager of the group choked up when he was talking about the graduating kids. He has taken care of them for years and now they're leaving him. His speech was sentimental. I felt the love he has for my daughter when he looked at her on stage revealing each kid's college choice. His heart was filled with pride. 
Then I attended her Spanish award ceremony. This was a dichotomy of feelings for me. I was proud her teachers thought she has a pretty good command of the Spanish language. But I was also upset because the week before when we were in Cancun, she said," No hablo Espanol." She did the same thing in Mandarin when we were at a dim sum restaurant a week later. She had 5 years of Spanish and even more of Mandarin.
I tend to work from home but my availability has been limited. I help my middle child with physics and math. He's a procrastinator so when he  comes for help, I'm already half asleep. This is where my husband and I tag team. It's hard to stay awake past 10pm when I wake up around 4:30 am. 
My work schedule prevents me from being the mom who attends every single event, knows all the kids' schedule and whereabouts. I just can't. Every 3-6 months, I even learn about my son's high school activities from a patient, who pays attention to all the school activities and meetings. I miss out on a lot of things. I feel bad and I don't. I have a responsibility to my patients and my team to be at the office. My team and patients are my dental family; I have to take care of them too. I try to balance the two. Most of the time, I think I'm successful. But life is about hardship, hard work and finding that medium of happiness and practicality. I try not to ever miss an important date though. So far so good.
So for all the working moms out there, I feel you. I'm with you. I'm standing right next to you. Sometimes, an overextension statement is an understated statement. We put our own needs aside to accommodate even the most trivial desire for our kids. Motherhood gave us love that was never known to us before. A patient once told me God gave us cute babies so we can love them unconditionally and raise them with hope. Then He gave us hormonal teenagers so it will be easier to let them go off to college. It's all about raising your kids right. But that job is the hardest job on earth.  Therefore, blessing to all the mothers for their endless love and devotion to the varieties of little and big creatures. May you continue to have your heart fill with peace and love from the fruits of your labor. The  baby is always the baby even at 60 in a mother's eyes.
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This year's theme is Planet vs. Plastics. Please remember to reduce your usage of plastics. Recycle or reuse your plastic bags, cartons, cups, utensils, etc. Any amount of reduce waste will help. In our office, we collect soda cans and donate them to the next person we see collecting them from the trash. We can do this because once our garbage bag is filled, we put it in my trunk. We also give it to our patients when they come in.  Just like the magazines we collect for our senior citizens to read in their residential home. 
Books that are given to us are shared in the neighborhood little "library". I love that I can just put books there for others to read. Talking about books, we love to share 2 of our favorite books with our newborn "future patients", The Brown Bear book and The Tooth book by Dr. Seuss. Isn't the second one obvious? If you ask, I can probably recite the tooth book for you.
I also give my barely worn or new clothes from my kids to my young patients. In my culture, it is believed that worn clothes have spirit in them. When a child is a good one, whoever wears their clothes will also be a good child.  That is why I warn all my young patients and their parents about the clothes they are about to wear. There is some truth to the spirit in materials. Ask me about the time I tried to buy a floor mirror at a consignment store...scary.
Enjoy your Earth Day, earthlings. Save the planet for our kids and grandkids. Keep the air clean for ourselves and our other inhabitants. Life is a cycle, from plants to humans. Let's keep this cycle going for as long as possible for longevity sake. 
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March is a month full of activities. I went to North Carolina to attend a dental conference. I learned more about implant failures, diseases and different methods to bone augmentation. Who does not like to learn more about bone augmentation? Charlotte was exciting. There's a rail trail (only if you pay attention), NASCAR museum, multiple stadiums, wide open cemetery, houses turned into restaurants, etc. It's a financial hub for the country and city is growing. This once southern town is very much metro. Surprisingly, it has a diverse food palate with an Optimist Hall to showcase it.
March was also a month of birthday celebrations for my kids, nieces and nephews.  The office also welcomed new future patients so congratulations to our dental family members. I love when new parents complain about fatigue but savors it at the same time. Being a parent is one of my favorite roles in life. Time goes by quickly and the kids will move out. Make sure to nourish those relationships to produce thriving adults with compassion and grit. You need to have grit in life. 
March also puts me in the middle of a Hygiene Board conversation. It's frustrating when people who give educational courses don't remember or even know the rules and regulations written in the Dental Practice Act. When they advise others, they create a group of ill-informants, who then spread those same falsehoods. So no one really knows the facts. Sitting in to emphasize the facts and asking those same people to read one section of the handbook was futile. I had to highlight it for them. It's like feeding children to eat. Reading and getting the facts straight before you argue with people on the board will save you from being in the glare of professional embarrassment and finger wagging. Not to mention, a fine. 
So the end of March is spring break in our area. May all your little ones be happy when they rest their thinking cap on a hook somewhere. Please remember to be safe as you travel with your friends and families. Our office will reopen on Monday, 4/8. Enjoy your moment of rest and relaxation. You deserved it. You feel me?

This year there are 29 days to celebrate love. But only one day to do so nationally. I hope everyone finds their love pot filled, or at least half-full. I'm not one to define love for you but I will be the one to celebrate any kind of love with you. It has different meaning for everyone. I've only known unconditional love when I held my daughter for the first time many years ago.  She's still my first true love. She can hurt me. I'd still want to take care of her. I question my ability to do the same for a significant other. 
Many hearts will be filled with happiness this month. Some will be broken. It's a dichotomy: some thrives on it while others sink. It's complicated only because it comes in  many variations and forms. Regardless of shape, it's still a passionate feeling of something. So for this month and many months thereafter, I wish you carry this little piece of passion with you. Let it lifts you. Be elated. But I also wish you patience if you are waiting for it to come. 
Valentine cookies from the person who knows how to get to my heart quickly. My pot is filled. 
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Welcome 2024. I think a lot of people are with me on the excitement of this new year. It can't be said enough how hectic 2023 was. For the world to see terrorism over and over again, wars after wars, craziness has become part of our normal. The visuals only sting during a lapse of consciousness. Those with the most weapons and money get to dictate what is right and just.  Root cause of war is discussed in hindsight. But the immediate cause of war justifies displacing 2M+ people and destroying one of the most populated cities in the world. I'm so lost in these extremes.
Maybe it's today's view of cancel culture. Kids can't read books that are considered bad, even if judged by only one person. We are so divided. Society is rough. Young people recording fights for more "likes" on social platforms to gain sponsorship. Adults making outrageous claims to stay relevant. Patients tell doctors how to treat them from internet med school. Common sense is consistently left out of conversations. It used to be let them question your intelligence with your silence rather than confirming their theory with your boisterousness.  
After a tumultuous year, here's to a calmer 2024. May peace and health stay with you. May you have the strength to be you, your ultimate true self. I hope you find joy in the little things that surround you daily to perk up your days.  Aging takes us down inevitably so you might as well enjoy the journey now.
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Me at the end of 2023...wiped out. December was an extremely busy month as we try to accommodate all the last minute appointment requests.