We're almost there

Just for kicks, I went back to see what I was writing around this time last year. And guess what? I was whining and griping about basketball then, too!

We're in the home stretch. It's only a couple more weeks before the basketball season will be over. And I'm as tired of complaining about it as my friends and family are of hearing about it.

And I can't get away from it anywhere.

I took Biscuit to a pediatric dentist this morning. He has to have his tooth filled because his cavity is in one of the molars he'll have until he's about 12. The doctor was WAY too peppy for me, but he had that just-right personality to work with kids.

He gave Biscuit about 80 high-fives, and asked him all kinds of questions about stuff he likes, including the firetruck on the shirt he was wearing. He had this toy drawer full of bright, colorful stuff to choose from and a sticker drawer with every cartoon character you can think of. He told Biscuit that he was such a good helper, he could take one thing from each drawer.

I'm sure he does that with all his patients, but the glow on Biscuit's face made it seem like that was the first time a thing like that had ever happened.

Today's visit was a consultation. They needed to see how Biscuit would behave, so they could devise their treatment plan. From what the dentist saw today, Biscuit will get laughing gas to relax him, then they'll do the numbing gel, then a shot, then the filling. 

The doctor said to me, "By the way, we don't use four-letter words around here." Then he smiled. I looked at him waiting for an explanation. "You know, s-h-o-t." Here's proof of how peppy this guy is. He said they use terms like "sleepy gel" and "nap time juice."

There were so many times I wanted to crack jokes at the appointment. But I behaved as an adult and kept my mouth shut.

The doctor looked at the info sheet I filled out. It listed where Jeff and I work, and that always starts a conversation. People seem to be fascinated by our jobs. It makes me wonder that if people are so interested in newspapers, why have subscription rates dropped at every newspaper I know? People  want to know what you do and how you do it and how you got into doing it. You'd think if there was that much interest, more people would be getting subscriptions.

Then they find out what Jeff does. They always say things like, "Wow! You get to go to all the college basketball games for free?" or "You mean your JOB is watching basketball games?" or "Do you secretly pull for one of the teams around here?"

I get a little defensive on Jeff's behalf. His JOB is not simply watching basketball games. His job is tracking and analyzing the games then writing about them in a way that people can understand not only what happened in the game, but what affect it's going to have going forward. And he didn't grow up anywhere near here, so no, he doesn't secretly pull for any teams.

So in a couple of weeks, I'll quit complaining about Jeff being away at basketball games.

And I'll START complaining about him being around too much!