Invisible Community

The unforeseen importances

Recently I have been reminded how incredible it is to be surrounded by an incredible loving and caring community. A community that I have always known is there, but never truly realized how strong and unbelievably incredible it is.

Yesterday I went to the dentist. The same place that I have been going for as long as I can remember. Except this time, my Dentist (who was also my orthodontist) was no longer there. Between my last appointment and my way overdue appointment I had yesterday he had retired. I had known this before showing up and didn't think anything of it. I was greeted by one of the lovely receptionists that I had known growing up, but besides that all my people were gone. The dental assistants that saw me grow were gone, my dentist (let's call him Dr. Fun) that looked not just after my teeth, but ensured each visit was a good one was gone.

Now this may seem like a weird thing, to miss seeing my dentist or the hygienists that I once had known. But Dr. Fun's office was an invisible community for me, and I truly didn't realize that until I went yesterday and met all the new faces of employees and new head dentist. Don't get me wrong, they were very sweet people and did an incredible job, they just weren't the community that I grew to admire.

When I was a kid Dr. Fun always looked after my experience and made me laugh even when he probably shouldn't cause he had tools in my mouth. He would rag on me about growing too much and how I was not allowed to grow up to be tall like my parents, that I had to stay shorter than him. He would bug me about my mouth. Lol, he knew my mouth and would know what things to watch for and pay attention to when it came to my mouth. I could not walk out of that office without him reminding me how small my mouth is, and how he could not believe that it was so small. Which usually came across with some sort of comment like, "how are you able to talk so much if your mouth is this small" haha. Which from anyone else I would have gotten mad. Especially as a kid I would have gotten mad if someone told me I talked to much, but from Dr. Fun it was okay.

Dr. Fun was just the dentist that I went to for my cleanings, he was just the dentist that filled my cavities, he was just the orthodontist that did all my braces work. Yet, he was so much more. I always looked forward to seeing Dr. Fun and waiting to see what he would bug me about this time, wondering how many times he would tell me I needed to floss more. Dr. Fun was building community and building relation and I am sure it was not just with my family, but with many if not all of his clients that walked through those doors. Whether intentional or not Dr. Fun and his office built an invisible community that I wanted to be a part of. That I looked forward to visiting, and wanted my checkups to be more often. Some may say that this was a business tactic to keep clients coming back, but I wouldn't say so. I would say that when it took 3 months to get in for a filling it was because Dr. Fun and his office cared. They showed me I mattered and that I was an important human, that I was not just another paycheck walking through the door.

I hope that the new doctor taking over Dr. Fun's service is able to continue to give all of us clients still an invisible community. A community so strong that we don't realize that we want to go back we just do, because they just look after us like humans and care about us.

So I ask you. Where are your invisible communities? Where are the people that make you feel important, that you matter? For we are all human and we all need love, we all need to feel important and like we matter. My next question is. How can you start or continue living like Dr. Fun in your life? Dr. Fun showed love and grace to every patient that walked through those doors. He may have been the one person that made someone laugh, or the one person in someone's life that showed care and compassion. How will you live your life to show love to all those that surround you? How will you live your life showing love everyday even to those that do not seem like they deserve it at all? How will you foster your invisible community?