Growing Pains

Our practice is growing.  To be fair, for the first year or two it would have been hard to do anything else. When I took the reins of what used to be called Gladwyne Veterinary Clinic, Dr. Genser had been seeing about 4 patients on a busy day. Now we see 30 patients on an average day. I am grateful for every single client that walks in my door. I am equally grateful for every single employee that helps me to give the most amazing care to each and every client. It is really hard to do things the same way that we used to when we have grown from myself and three incredible employees to the amazing team that we have now. Those are the growing pains. 

Somebody called me to say that maybe I should go back to the way it was. That maybe I wasn't doing a great job anymore. I suppose that I needed to hear that. Don't worry though, I won't go backwards, because that really isn't an option. That would mean abandoning some of my work family, and well, that just cannot happen. I'm sure it would mean abandoning some of the clients and pets that we care deeply about also, I am not willing to do that either. 

I remember many times my daughters complaining about different things that were most likely growing pains, my 13 year old son complaining about them almost weekly now. I don't want them to stop growing. I cannot stifle their growth and continue to treat them like children. I cherish my memories of their baby, toddler, tween years and all that I learned from them during those years, but I look forward to every new day with them as they grow and evolve into something totally different and beautiful.  

That is what I think is happening to GAH. It is growing and evolving into something beautiful that I am proud of and stifling the growth so that we can remain the same isn't an option. We are figuring it out, from little things like adding another phone line and adding a few hours here and there to major things like talking to architects and the township about renovating our space so that it works better for everyone. Soon the growing pains will go away, and we won't be awkward anymore. But just like I'll still recognize and love my babies when they are all grown up, you'll still recognize and love GAH.