The book is a diary of a physician/father over 25 years of family life and his practice of medicine. The author kept a journal and although this journal reflects his mood and attitude at the time, it is a description about experiences, occurrences and important decisions. These transitions and tides are chronicled whether it be family life, building a practice, or operating a health system. The result is a journal that describes seemingly minor events that directed the author and his family in certain directions and as a result, this story. "Tides and Transitions" describes those people, events, and the stories that helped develop, mature, and challenge the family and medical practice. It is bits and pieces of the life of a young then middle aged physician and father.

Tides and Transitions

Life and Thoughts 1983-2008By Dan Stultz

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Dan Stultz
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4567-0173-4

Contents

Introduction: Tides and Transitions..................................................1Chapter 1: Growing Up................................................................9Chapter 2: Development, New Roles, Teenagers.........................................31Chapter 3: CEO: Shannon, THA, Elder 2000-2008........................................84Parting thoughts on Tides and Transitions............................................1121) "Tide Makers".....................................................................1172) Homilies..........................................................................1223) Definitions and what people will tell you behind closed doors.....................1394) Curriculum Vitae..................................................................144

Chapter One

Growing Up 1978-1988

Peter Senge defines learning as "a process that occurs over time and always integrates thinking and doing." He goes on to say, "Learning is highly contextual.... It happens in the context of something meaningful and when the learner is taking action."

"We attract who we are, not who we want."

John Maxwell The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

Summer 1983

James had an accident today at Spring Creek. He wobbled on the dam and we watched helplessly from twenty feet and he over corrected to fall toward concrete. Miraculously, he landed on his bottom, but popped back against the dam and split his right forehead open about 3/4 inch. He stopped crying when the blood had all been washed away revealing a full thickness cut and visible skull. We came into town and Bill Turner sewed him up. He thrilled and amazed me several times.

1) He quit crying quickly and repeatedly asked me if it happened to me when I was a little boy. I lied, said it had, and that Baba had taken care of me. He seemed relieved when he finally heard me really convince him it would be ok.

2) He told me over and over then that he was ok. "I'm ok."

3) He wanted to know if the doctor at the hospital was my friend when we were driving to town. He wanted to know if Shannon was where I worked.

4) I asked James, all the while awake, to squeeze my fingers if it hurt. He paused, squeezed my fingers, then asked so politely if he was squeezing too hard and hurting my broken finger. He was squeezing my fingers, but remembered my broken finger in the midst of this.

5) On the way to the car I asked him if he wanted a popsicle or ice cream. He said he did but could we eat it at home. He had held up well, but he wanted to come home, he had had enough.

I should mention John and Lisa's role in this. Lisa offered to get ice immediately and took off for the house. We told her we would all be coming. John was most upset. He was paralyzed with tears, asked if James would be ok and then whether or not James would need stitches. It really got him until he realized that James was not going to die.

An amazing package not yet three years old. Amazing memory, perception, and bull of a kid who refused to panic going into a different world.

John's gum may have gotten him through. He chewed it through the entire episode.

    Pee Wee

    I saw him on first
    Standing, wondering,
    Curious, ready.
    He held his left elbow
    By his right hand
    Behind his back.
    Listing to the right
    He stared at the batter,
    Waiting, patiently.
    When the ball was
    Hit, he broke to first
    In anticipation.
    The ball in left field
    Allowed him off the
    Bag, watching.
    He resumed his
    pondering of bigger
    days, bigger players.
    Bigger plays and
    What ifs. John
    On first base in June
        1983

Sunday Before Labor Day

John and I went dove hunting today. John got real soft hearted and I have to tell the story. I shot a dove, and John jumped to go get it. I subsequently followed and he was softly patting it. When I walked up he said, "He's so quiet and still". I offered to take the dove, he gave it, and I jerked its head off. What was done was done. John "compensated" and said he was glad he had blood all over him, but it got to him. Before the 5 year old macho returned, John had grown some.

Maybe that is the difference in kids and grownups. We block a lot; don't let it get to us. I didn't really think; I put the bird out of misery. John was really thinking. A wounded dove with him, a young boy, out hunting with his Dad. He just couldn't do anything but pat that dove. It was wounded so badly it couldn't fly or move well, but its wounded quietness struck John. In a brief moment, he told me all. No silliness, beyond acting like a man, he told me what he was feeling. It was a moment I cherish because I saw his plain true feelings, the ambivalence of it. It was tough for him; it made it a tough moment for me too.

9-4-83

"Thanks Dad"

The fall of '83 was involved in soccer. Lisa usually played at noon, John around two o'clock. I enjoyed watching Lisa evolve in soccer.

I think that in the early fall she was barely sure of who won and she was tentative. Near the end of the year, she had improved dramatically. Lisa was playing on the front line on offense and nearly scored a goal several times the last four games or so.

At the last game I saw in its entirety, Lisa's team, the Blue Bombers, took a thrashing from the Diamonds. Lisa's team lost by 6-0, and the Diamonds had one girl who virtually dominated the game.

I encouraged Lisa when she came to the sideline after the game. Lisa was beet red and when I congratulated her on a good game she burst into tears. "They smashed us six to nothing or something." I tried to help her by telling her they played well. I tried to tell her the fun was just playing. I tried to tell her that we had been beaten far worse in softball, yet she cried on, really crushed.

The male coach came to the rescue. Harold told Lisa that the Diamonds lost 15-3 at the first of the year. He said, "The Diamonds got smashed worse than we did. They got creamed!"

Lisa quit crying and giggled! What had helped was that the Diamonds had been smashed. Justice had been done by Harold's simple explanation. The Diamonds probably had felt worse than even the Blue Bombers felt this day. We could go home. Vengeance is ours.

Thanks Coach, sit down Dad.

October 10, 1983

Campfire at Sundown

Silently, I watched him sitting on the steps watching the fire. John was excited about charcoal, grills, fire and cooking meat. He sensed a chance to...