Ten Things I Really Love About Seaside Chiropractic

Wednesday, July 16th — I’ve been thinking about this on and off all day, even in between doing some editing for an online buyer and actually beginning another original article. This keeps getting in the way, so I’d better get it out of my head.

10) Whale vertebra in the front waiting room. At first I thought it was some oddly beautiful modern piece of sculpture, but when I asked Roseanna, last March, she said it was a whale vertebra that had washed up on one of La Jolla’s beaches. A patient had found it and brought it in to Dr. Klein. It’s huge, and strange, and gorgeous. I can only imagine what a whole chain of them would look like.

9) Snacks on the counter behind which is the front desk. Emily is the Snack Monitor, and she picks out wonderful things every day, from crisp and juicy organic green seedless grapes, to fake Cheetos from Whole Foods Market (maybe healthier than the originals?), to incredibly sinful little Trader Joe’s brownies. When you know something yummy is going to be waiting for you, it’s even another incentive to get yourself in there instead of dawdling around looking in the shop windows and reading the menus outside the restaurants.

VIII) Plastic spines all over the place. Like the whale vertebra, they sort of focus your mind on what this place is all about. Aside from the snacks, I mean. (Sorry about the Roman numeral — when I put an 8 next to a parenthesis, it kept turning into a Happy Face.)

7) Dan’s little landscapes in oil on the walls. I really love Dan’s work. As I said a while ago, I want to buy one of these little treasures someday when I have some $$$. He is really good.

6)  Patient education, more and more and more of it. I think DK’s plan is to have every patient be so knowledgeable about chiropractic, and how it all works, and why it all works, that all of us can answer questions and maybe even give little talks about it, should the occasion arise. Education and learning new stuff is what I love most of all, so I thrive on getting these little quizzes every day from Emily and Roseanna.

5) Framed testimonial letters on the walls, even in the bathroom. And a big book of them in addition, on the table in the waiting room. In 17 years of Dr. Klein’s practice, there are a whole heck of a lot of people who have been helped by, and hence “converted to,” chiropractic! It’s fun to read what people have to say about how much better their lives are since they got themselves adjusted.

4) Orchids all along the front counter. You see orchids everywhere here in Southern California; not necessarily outside in people’s gardens, although you do see that sometimes, but I guess everybody has a few in pots. I believe Seaside has somebody who takes them away when they’ve finished blooming and brings in a bunch of new ones. At any rate, they are always beautiful, and always different. I just wish they had some sort of fragrance; anything that gorgeous ought to smell good, too, I think.

3) Laughter and smiles and giggles everywhere in the office! These folks have so much fun in their daily work! Once upon a time, for twenty years, I was privileged to be able to work with children every single day in a Montessori school I founded with my sister. We used to refer to it (privately) as the GW — for Great Work. That was what it was for me, and for her too — the thing we loved doing above all else, and were really, really good at doing. The laughter at Seaside makes me realize that the staff here are also involved in a GW of their own, and are having as much fun doing it as I did with my own.

2)  Roseanna and Emily, singly and together. These are two beautiful, wonderful, smart, compassionate, caring, altogether excellent young women, whom I feel fortunate to have met. The two of them keep things running like a perfectly-balanced machine. Nothing fazes them, nothing seems to annoy them or bother them; they smile, and hug you, and welcome you in as if you were the best thing that’s happened yet in their day. I love them both exceedingly.

1) It’s gotta be Dr. David Klein! Think a combination of Mr. Clean and Gandalf the Grey: he looks kind of like Mr. Clean (no long gray hair or beard… hey, no hair at all!) but he functions kind of like Gandalf. He makes magical things happen for unbelievers. He knows EVERYTHING about the Internet, and is willing to teach you anything you want to know. He has some paintings by his mother hanging in the office (how neat is that??). He is incredibly funny, very wise in a huge variety of topics, and he is crazy about his beautiful wife. He’s half my age, and I think of him as sort of a guru. Go figure.

So those are my Top Ten Things I Love about Seaside Chiropractic. Now I can concentrate on work, now that I’ve gotten them off my chest.

Thanks for reading — Betsy