The Art of Humming

I know a man who hums, and he is a good man.

He's a dentist in my hometown and he hums while he works.

I have often heard people tell horror stories about going to the dentist. Grown men and women still terrified of these doctor's chairs. I guess I just never understood that. You see, my dentist would start humming and I would often fall asleep in the chair. Seriously, during a routine teeth cleaning, just lying there conked out, can you imagine? I have often shared this with friends dreading to make a dentist appointment and sometimes they comment that they wish their dentist hummed too. But I am not all together sure that was the reason I was so comfortable with the man, after all I have known him all my life.

He grew up in the same time as my parents, and my sister and I grew up with his children. It seems funny but that's the way things work in a small town. Six degrees of separation in my hometown is almost a pointless endeavor; you would never stop connecting the dots.

Nevertheless, I always enjoy talking to him because he has such an interesting take on the world. His father was a dentist too, a nice man, an outdoors man. In fact if it wasn't so cold in Western, Kentucky, you might find him on Lake with his fishing buddy right now. He retired several years ago, but for a good long time they practiced together. My Aunt use to work in their office and that too might have been comforting but that wasn't it completely.

He and his family lived in a nice southern home, the same home that he grew up in. There is a lot of history in that house and the house is just about as old as the town. I always heard that the house was ordered from a Sears and Roebuck Catalog, and the supplies came in on the train, isn't that neat? A white house with a sprawling front porch and green shutters, a real beauty. I was there a lot in High School and sometimes I was even there at dinner time. His wife is a great person too, both of them have always been civic minded, nice people, and really great parents. He even became a minister while we were growing up, and you could listen to his sermons on the radio on Sunday mornings.

Once he told me a story about two prominent ladies in town that he did odd jobs for while he was growing up. The story really reminded me of my own childhood, heck I was still doing odd jobs and cutting grass for older ladies scattered all over town then. The story was a neat one about two neighbors who sort of competed to see which yard could be the prettiest. But to me what was so great about the story was that I found comparison with this mans childhood and my own. I thought then, Jonathon, you must be on the right track. From then on I thought about that story and how many young boys get the chance to cut grass and work for their neighbors, especially in a small town like ours. You can learn a lot from these older folks. So I kept up the work to keep money in my pockets and I never forgot that story; probably never will.

That story connected me to someone that I had a great deal of respect for. I haven't tried to mimic his life, but as life continues to happen I still think of this man as a role model. You know, if you can go into a dentist office and lie down in the chair and fall asleep during your appointment, then your dentist must be a pretty good guy. And that's just it, he is a good man, then and now. When I was younger I thought...that is the same kind of guy I want to be and still do.

I don't know if he ever knew I thought that about him, I guess it wouldn't matter much, he would have been the same good guy whether he knew it or not. He was brought up right, but the rest he did on his own.

That said, you never really know who is watching you or what they might be thinking. You don't know what kind of impact you are making on the people that are around you; up close and from afar. Even though I am not a dentist, or a minister, or a dad, the role model thing still applies. Who knows, maybe someday someone will think that way about me or you? It is at least something to shoot for!

Not long ago I shared a few stories about this man to a friend that had an appointment with his dentist the next day. After I was finished, he asked what did him humming have anything to do with the story? He obviously was not a deep thinker like myself.

My reply was:

"He's a great guy!" "How many ole grouches do you know that go around humming all the time?"

Stay tuned.