January 1, 2015

Dear Friends,

HAPPY NEW YEAR and God bless you!

Thirty years. That’s right! Thirty (30) years…..Two Thousand Fifteen, 2015. Where were you in 1985? I can remember, distinctly, standing in the middle of a rather large new location for Lakeland Dental Lab on the south side of Lansing, Michigan. The denture department manager, Martin, grabbed me by the lapels of my suit and excitedly proclaimed; “We won! The state of Michigan just said that there is going to be denturism here!” I was absolutely stunned. It was only seven years prior that I went to the first National Denturist Association meeting in Chicago and they said it was going to be a long uphill fight and may take 20 to 30 years.

Well, yesterday, Wednesday December 31, 2014 I met with a person in Okemos, Michigan and showed her the 1985 Michigan Report and she said “It’s been thirty years… you guys should have been in practice now for thirty years!” Again I was stunned, embarrassed and excited all at once… a flood of emotions.

You know she is right! Yes, Jean is right. We should have been practicing now for thirty (30) years. How would your life have been different? Would you have gotten a little more sleep, a little less grey hair, lower blood pressure or more time with your family? How about more career satisfaction and respect from your colleagues? Who cares, really about possessions? Cars rust and boats wear out. Possessions, in the grand scheme of things, really mean nothing. That is a game for someone else.

Would you have mentored an apprentice or been able to truly and regularly improve people’s lives directly, on a daily basis, with even better quality and service without the middle man? Could not we have lived better in that span of time by controlling our own destiny and in the final analysis our own time, henceforth, the quality and dignity of our lives and the lives of others?

Thirty years is half of my life. Thirty years is a nice round number and is a number that will have impact in Lansing, Michigan. I am excited, my friends, to be in the position we are in. The Michigan State Denturist Society, Inc. is poised to change the direction of our industry and there will be news coming soon that will impact and uplift us all!

Yours in excellence,

Mike