ORABRUSH by Dr. Bob Wagstaff

ORABRUSH

Me at our CVS Drugstore . . . Orabrush modeling.

(Horrible photo of me--great product.)

Robert "Dr. Bob" Wagstaff

Founder & Chairman of the Board
Orabrush, Inc. 

THIS IS MY DAD!!!!!!!
After years of coming to watch my piano recitals and school choir performances and play presentations . . . I am now getting to stand back and brag about my dad and what he and Cindy have accomplished with ORABRUSH!!!!!  You know how there was always a Teacher and Parent's Night when you were in school . . . your parents would come and sit in your desk and (if it was Elementary School) see your drawings on the bulletin board and read the letter that you'd carefully printed out earlier that day  on that gray, learn-to-print paper.  Now is World and Business Leaders Night:

This the link to the company website:
http://orabrush.com

This is a cool YouTube video that went viral:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oKYeWf3dPA&feature=uploademail

Orabrush ready for action

Dad has always been good at seeing a product (like marigold flowers) and putting them into new applications (Kemin, Inc colour enhancer for eggs and broiler chickens).  He made himself one of the first mock-ups of Orabrush more than 10 years ago.  He took it to the Philippines when he and Cindy were serving as Mission Leader there.  He used it everyday and really loved the way it worked.  He put 10s of thousands (that I can guess at, probably more) of dollars and hours into improving and perfecting and trying to get his Orabrush out to the public.  People all over the world are using it now and he started a new business when he was 75 years old.  

I wonder if it will take me until I'm 75 to become successful in the way that he is--I do everything well, my mom used to chide me, but nothing better than anyone else.  My dad is doing something better than everyone else on this earth.  

He was always the best father he knew how to be--and, now, is a good example for me to try to emulate.  The thing about Orabrush that he is most proud of is the number of people--families--who have a good job and health insurance and are able to be self-sufficient.  His satisfaction comes from seeing the success and happiness of those he has helped.  He and Cindy still stay at Motel 6 when they travel and drive rather than fly when they go to visit family in the midwest.  He lives modestly and has found joy in providing circumstances and things that would otherwise not be available.  He served as President of his housing area's board--buying all of the materials and building a children's play area for the 100s of children that live in the apartments in his community.  He showed me how he put together a climbing wall for young children.  I played on the teeter-totter with my own grown up daughter while he sat nearby and talked with us.  

He has had to overcome obstacles from the time his mother died 2 weeks after he was born through  rough school years and through to his efforts to show his dad that he had succeeded as a breadwinner.  The summer that we drove from our home to Utah for family vacation, we arrived at our grandpa Wagstaff's house in a Lincoln Continental, my mother confided in me that this was the first time that dad had heard his own father tell him that he had finally made something of himself.  

Ask about an old trumpet mounted on the wall of his current home and he will tell you that playing in the school band, he discovered that there were different kinds of trumpet parts--and that he could choose what he would play.   This discovery opened his eyes to the fact that he could choose other things in his life.  Quite a revelation--one that I don't think most people ever find.

I am proud of my dad.  He has spent his whole life working--when he comes to my house for a few days, he asks for a list of things that need fixing around the house.  I call it the "wears Florsheim shoes on the beach" syndrome.  My junior and senior years of high school we lived 30 minutes from Ocean City, Maryland.  We would have lunch on the beach and he would come from work to have lunch with us.  In his suit and tie, he would walk out on the sand to where we were sitting and kind of hunch over, eat a sandwich, then kiss my mom goodbye and go back to work.  He never sat down or took his shoes off.  He focused on supporting our family--mom was able to stay home and take care of us.

He is quiet spoken.  He and mom never screamed at each other or fought about differences--they had them, of course--but he refused to be angry with mom.  The only time that I was told (I don't remember it.) he yelled was when he came home from work and mom would be crying in the bedroom.  "What did you kids do to her?"  I know now that she was most probably suffering from clinical depression as well as a weak heart from rheumatic fever when she was 6, and a blood disease doctors have only  and found a name and a cure for in the last 7 years.  I always knew that dad was in love with mom--he told her and the family that she was his sweetheart and companion . . . as a child, I felt secure in the certainty that he would always love her--and us.

He is married now to Cindy.  Mom died more than 10 years ago after 8 years fighting non-Hodgkins lymphoma.  Cindy's former husband also died of cancer.  There is a lot of sad in both their histories--but dad continues to work, to move forward, to find joy and satisfaction in creating new things and new ways to use them.

I am so proud to have him as my father.  I am excited to see him off on this adventure now.  I will love him always.

To Teach About Family

Lauren, Megan
Nathan

Lauren and Charlie at puppy training class.

Charlie

Kate before she is introduced to sand.

Kate after she is introduced to sand.

Jon is excited or thinking about something--up and down energy.

Still kind of fuzzy--almost got him not moving.  Jon is perpetual energy personified.

                                                       

Jon was quite enthusiastic about the water.  Meg is a good teacher. 

We got floaties for everyone and a special swim suit for Jon with buoyancy inserts built in.  The sun reflected into our eyes so Meg went in and found hats for everyone.

ICE CREAM TREATS!!!
Kate declined to make use of the stick and went both-hands onto the cold stuff.

Nathan, almost smiling.

Megan, smiling.

Nathan shows nephew Jon how Shaun the Sheep makes noise.

Brent and sleepy Kate.

Lauren and Gypsy

Lauren and Kate

Newborn Kate and me

What is it within me that so overpowers my subconscious?  What is it that always pushes my desire to teach?  

I was working with a new rehab (for my hand just operated on last month) tech and we fell to talking about our families, relationship with spouses, what I did in college, his thoughts on why two people stay together as a couple, my unfinished PhD, the change in the name of the hospital where he worked.  He told one of the other physical therapists about his trick to get children to eat vegetables:  put them on the table and declare that they are his . . . they are not to touch them.  Reverse psychology.  I assured him that method would surely come back to bite him.  You can't reverse direct most behaviors--children learn by watching and trying what they see.  He told me that so far . . . so good.

During the rest of our conversation I was compelled to listen and to talk about how to raise children.  Not overtly, but by using stories from my family's recent past, I tried to teach him how to respect and to reinforce desirable behavior.  Especially I came around to Brent's attitude:  problems need to be fixed, not the blame.  If there is a messy room it doesn't matter who created the disarray--we are family and as a family we will all work together to bring order back to our home.  When children were kind and socialized--when we were at the toy store and no one whined or cried for a toy, when we walked past an ice cream store and no one plead for us to go in and get ice cream, when conversations were balanced and everyone included--in these times, I would thank my children and tell them that I wanted to go and do things with them.  Sometimes we'd go and pick out a cookie at the grocery store, or plan to take a picnic to the park the next day.  When there was yelling or loud disagreements while we were in public, I would (as soon as the child had calmed down) tell the child that I was disappointed and didn't want to go places with someone who made me feel uncomfortable.  

In all this, my most overwhelming yearning was to differentiate between punishment and discipline.  Anger and embarrassment and yelling were ineffective in dealing with anyone--especially children.  Brent's desire to have me feel secure and happy kept me sane and our marriage strong.  When Meg, La and Nate saw me doing something that was usually Brent's job, they would ask me why I was doing it. "If I do it now," I would tell them "he won't have to later."  Our marriage has been so satisfying and joyful, I could hope for nothing more than that every other couple could have the same kind of relationship.  

Now something that drives Brent crazy--another link off of the first subject, kind of.  Going off on a tangent.

I've been reading in the Book of Mormon and again I've seen that those who seek adoration and to rule over others, preach that righteous leaders are only out to get power and riches.  Mosiah told his people that he had never required taxes to build palaces or provide him with an extravagant lifestyle.  He had worked with his own hands to provide for his needs.  His only joy had been the obedience of his people so that they could receive the blessings of their Heavenly Father.  He taught them that they were always in debt to the Lord because he gave commandments that, when obeyed, were rewarded with blessings so that they were in debt to the Lord again.  As a righteous leader, his only goal was to teach his people--that they would be happy.  

Laman and Lemuel continually incited their families and friends to rise up and kill their father Lehi and younger brother Nephi because they said that Nephi only wanted to get power over Laman and Lemuel and usurp their rightful place as the leaders of the family.  Yet, when confronted by an angel and they fall to their knees to worship Nephi, he does not accept their adoration.  Nephi "frankly forgives" them and urges them to worship their Heavenly Father.  Nephi has the same attitude that Brent does--when there are challenges or problems, being able to successfully solve the situation is the priority.  It does not matter who gets credit for the success--because ultimately Heavenly Father's influence and authority are what make it possible for men to move mountains--in accordance with their faith in God and their faithfulness in obeying God's law.

Back to the first subject:

I wanted to tell this man, somehow, that leading his children, rather than fooling them, would be the only way that they would be able to grow up and become as kind, as intelligent, as thoughtful, and as creative as my Megan, my Lauren, and my Nathan.  I wanted for him the incredible blessings--the wonderful life--that I have found.  

As I re-read what I've just written, I like that I want to be like Mosiah and Nephi . . . to be like my husband, and like each of my children.