A Dental delirium

At this point in Mark's career, we are seriously trying to consider what move will be his next. Since we embarked on this toothy journey, I have slowly come to realize that it would really have helped if I were , I don't know, a business manager, accountant, dental supply rep, lawyer, or someone like that, instead of the artsy farsty that I am. Unfortunately for him, my best skill in the Dental office is picking out a fantastic drapery treatment. I often remind him of this as we hash and rehash the details of his(our) choices. But, because we are attatched by legal and lifestyle arrangement, i.e. wedded bliss, I have become, by default, the counsel, research assistant, sounding board, and (frightfully) business consultant. Yikes.

After 3 years in the Air force, and about a year and a half as an associate for another dentist, he(we) are ready for him to move toward something including these things:

1.Ownership

2. Long term connections

3. A livelihood that will help us actually put money into a retirement account and have a bit left over for the kids to, I don't know, go to, say, college?

So we seem to be at some sort of a crossroads... Deciding if he wants to be the sort of dentist he THOUGHT he wanted to be after graduation from dental school, which was a high-end cosmetic style approach. Or now he is looking into a franchised dental office, where it's probably a bit more like wal-mart, than Nordstrom dentistry. The thing is, his options really are endless. From one extreme to the other and everything in between. I know that may sound freeing to some, whose businesses are dictating where they live and when they move. But the freedom is also somewhat paralyzing because we can never be 100% sure that any one option is really good enough to narrow down. There's always "another" idea to look over, analyze, wonder about, and basically drive ourselves somewhat nuts.

That said, we actually have had some luck narrowing down things a bit lately. As his experiences have grown, he has also grown to know what he really enjoys, what gets his blood boiling, and seen techniques he'd like to adopt and some things he won't do.

I am truly hoping over the next while we will find some sort of inspiration. I have always wished that God would send us a neat little letter in the mail saying "This is where your next life step should be." But unfortunately he all too often trusts us to use our own methods of deduction, good sense, understanding, and hopefully along with that a bit of sensitivity to His gentle promptings that help to guide us one way or another. Sometimes I don't want gentle promptings, I would prefer a large thump to the head. So I will keep you updated on the life and times of our Dental Decisiveness.