Chronicles of Chaos

June 6, 2007 | Print

The Veterinarian

Madison has a strange tick-like bump on her head. I don’t want to mess with it, and I’ve been sensing that she could use an old age assessment (she’s 12), so I make an appointment with the veterinarian.

Usually it’s Michael who takes her to the vet. We have an excellent vet–in fact several excellent vets all working together at the same hospital.

I drop Amelia off at camp and the boys and I bring Madison in for her appointment.

The doctor finds the three of us waiting with Madison in a little exam room. The boys are surprisingly calm, likely because they are surprised by the bright new animal hospital world. Or just the man outside cutting into parking lot asphalt with an electric saw.

I give the doctor the rundown while he gives Madison a few treats and rubs her in all the right places. Madison quivered in fear when I took her to our other vet. She’s almost wagging her tail for this man.

He’s calm, strong and clear with her. He checks her out and she complies willingly. She knows she’s safe.

I’m watching them together thinking that Madison’s veterinarian has incredible bedside (or whatever you call it) manner–better than so many of the doctors I’ve seen for myself and the kids.

Then it hits me, he’s intuitive. He also has a simplicity, sort of like animals do, and there’s this basic honesty and acceptance of what’s real.

I could be over dramatizing (or philosophizing) our 20 minute visit, but I have to say it felt therapeutic.

Though the boys’ highlight (that Wyatt talked about every hour for the rest of the day) was the electric saw cutting concrete.

The power of power tools cannot be underestimated.

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