A 5-Year Reunion

So have you ever had a good friend you’ve known for maybe two decades, only to fall out of touch for five years or so?

Don’t know about that absence making the heart grow fonder stuff; all I know is it was great sharing handshakes and hugs that had been missing in action way too long.

Two weeks ago, three of my trusty TCDC team members and I got away on Southwest to Sin City and then headed out to the Vegas burbs and the Red Rock Resort for a heartfelt reunion.

And if I didn’t know better, the Crown Council would sound something like some clandestine pro-dentite organization bent on persuading holistic chiropractors to finally stop bad-mouthing fluoride and root canals.

So “Blink” author Malcolm Gladwell and I aren’t saying instinctive reactions are all that bad. Don’t know about Malcolm, but I’m just saying it was great hooking up with old friends again. And reunions are awesome; especially when they take you back, not only to the good times…but the transformational times too.

The Crown Council is an elite national organization made up of progressive cutting edge clinicians who are also committed to making a difference in the community (I got in because of my stellar cross court backhand.) The Annual Crown Council Event is all about learning but, even more, it’s all about growing. Can’t remember the last time I didn’t shed a tear during the event but that’s only because the weekend always touches, moves, and inspires.

The Crown Council evolved from a then revolutionary educational program for dentists that focused on communication and systems (material alien to dental schools.) In 1996, Dental Boot Kamp actually got me on a plane for the first time since age twelve. I’d say my real life/post-dental school education remains more about people and communication than teeth. Funny thing is; my Boot Kamp experience also transformed me into a clinical continuing education junky. I will travel anywhere for great continuing education, mostly because I rubbed elbows with some of the top educators while we all learned stuff about asking questions and actively listening. In 1998, I attended my first Annual Crown Council Event…just in time for the unveiling of a new fundraising campaign called Smiles for Life.

In its 17-years, Smiles for Life has raised some $35 million with all proceeds going toward helping children fight health challenges they really shouldn’t have to face. We’ve been privileged to work with the amazing likes of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Cure Autism Now, UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Haven House of Pasadena, and for the last three years, our global, national, and local treasure…City of Hope.

This time around, the annual Event was pretty much the usual thing (for a Crown Council event); 10-minutes into the first speaker, my team and I were looking for Kleenex. We learned about the “power of why” and the possibility of commitment from a man and author who’d been pronounced “mostly dead” at age nine, the victim of 98% first and second degree burns. Like I said, the Crown Council Event is not your basic, usual, and customary dental meeting.

Sometimes you really don’t appreciate how much you miss your friends…until you live the great fortune of a reunion; can’t wait for the next one…in 2016.