Minutes to Memories

I went to the dentist yesterday, which unfortunately constitutes a major event in my life, seeing as how those visits are so rare. I remember getting a six-month reminder notice in the mail at some point, and I remember putting it off in honor of my personal tradition. I suspected it had been a year since my last cleaning.

Turned out to be two.

Which gives me a good excuse: the reminder must have been lost in Hurricane Katrina.

Oh well, it turned out like all my other visits. No problems, other than the fact that I don’t floss. And I never make my six-month visits.

I once again made a half-hearted mental commitment to start flossing and make the regular six-month cleanings. The dental hygienist must not have believed me since she gave me a battery-operated toothbrush to work on my gums. I prefer the old days when I got lollipops instead.

Anyway, this isn’t the point of my story.

Instead, when I arrived, there was an attractive young couple, probably in their early twenties, sitting in the waiting room. I said “hi” as I made eye contact with them, signed in, then found a travel magazine to take a mental vacation. But I couldn’t help notice that the female part of the couple was… how shall I say… bubbly? Energetic? Put it this way: she could hardly sit still, and she seemed like she was begging someone to have a conversation with her.

Since she was an attractive young girl with either her boyfriend or husband, I thought it best to learn about the top twenty beaches in the world instead of engaging her in conversation, so I stayed behind my magazine. But she was kind of hard to ignore.

She was watching the television in the waiting room, audibly reacting to every news story and commercial. Then, when a commercial came on singing the children’s song, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands…” Well, she just clapped her hands.

Now how many of you are going to do that in a quiet waiting room?

She laughed at herself, and I had to put down the magazine and laugh, too. As did her boyfriend/husband. She went on to finish the whole song, never missing a chance to go clap, clap.

In a few minutes, her boyfriend/husband was called back to the dental dungeon. Soon afterward, a rather angry older man came stumbling out, not happy at all to be alive at that moment in time. He stumbled out the front door, muttering all the way. After he left, I looked at the young lady and said that he didn’t look very happy. She smiled and sang, “Clap your hands.” (Clap. Clap.)

I wish I was that happy!

Our Peak of the Week Class begins each week with my summoning all the children to the front to sing a few songs. It had come to the point where the adults yawned and talked and didn’t participate much at all while the kids sang. After dismissing the kids last week, I had a heart-to-heart talk with everyone. I strongly encouraged everyone to come on Wednesdays, sit up front, be goofy with the kids, and make those ten minutes a highlight of their week. And I wondered how it would go last night.

Well, the spirit of my dentist office friend must have rubbed off on everyone because last night was very different. We did the children’s song from Hades, Father Abraham, and everyone just had a big old time flailing arms and legs around with the kids. I was very happy.

And I knew it.

So I just might clap my hands.