For someone who believes as deeply as I do in "community," it is somewhat ironic that my dream home rests on an island in the middle of a giant fresh water lake in Northern Idaho. 

True, I'm a Philly boy.  But I've always loved the outdoors and dreamed of a getaway home far from the cement and asphalt boundries of the big city.

It didn't happen overnight.  Nor does it for most dentists.  But with careful planning, savings and investment, I finally reached the point three years ago that I could buy my share of the American Dream.

In my case, it was a plot of land on Warren Island, a just drop-dead gorgeous land mass on Pend Oreille Lake in Idaho.  The only way to Warren Island is by boat -- or submarine.  Indeed, the U.S. Navy has used the lake as a submarine training ground since at least World War II.

There are 25 homes on Warren Island and now, proudly, one of them is mine.

I had a home custom built and have been watching over construction and relocation all year long.  Finally, with the help of barges that brought our furniture and two U-haul trucks from shore to island, we're moved in.

My home on Warren Island is timber-framed, 3,000 square feet and features a baby grand piano.  We get to and from it (I don't yet have a sub) on a 24-foot twin outboard that I own.

Although we're in Northern Idaho, Pend Oreille Lake is so deep that it never freezes.  That means we can use our boat all year long to get to and fro.

My home on Warren Island is my castle.  It is also proof that it is possible for dentists like me to do well and do good.

Thanks to modern technology, I can be on my island in the middle of Pend Oreille Lake and still be connected to the D.O.C.S. community throughout the nation.  Being able to work alone -- and yet remain connected -- is one reason so many dentists became dentists in the first place. It is also the key benefit of being a D.O.C.S. member.

I'd love to hear about your "islands" wherever they may be located.  If you are a D.O.C.S. member who has found your life's dream home, please share it with me and the readers of this blog.  You can post here or email me at michael@SilvermanDMD.com. 


----------------------------------------

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent."
 -- JOHN DONNE
     1572 -1631




OTHER QUOTES BY DONNE:

*  "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

*  "Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies."

*  "Reason is our soul's left hand, Faith her right."