The Waiting Game




How much time do you think you've spent waiting?



I mean, waiting.... in your entire life? Waiting in a line, waiting at a red light or a stop sign, or waiting on the telephone... put on hold and lulled into a stupor by the instrumental versions of songs that sound familiar, but you can't quite name. Waiting for tomorrow, your birthday or Christmas? I think we spend A LOT of time waiting. We wait so long for so many things, most times we don't even realize we're doing it.



Do you remember being a kid, and waiting for the rain to stop so you could go out and play? It seemed like as soon as the rain started, there was absolutely NOTHING, and I mean nothing, worth doing inside; not a thing on TV, not a book to hold your interest, no good games to play. You just looked out the window at the cold gray day wanting sunshine and playmates. All you could do was wait.



Waiting can sometimes be an exhilarating thing... waiting in a crowd at a concert and watching the stage for any signs of movement; signs that your favorite band was about to take the stage after you bought tickets two months ago! Exhilaration comes from waiting in expection for your first kiss. Do you remember your first kiss? Do you remember who you kissed? How long did you wait for that moment, with that first person? Was it worth the wait? Can you remember the moments before the kiss; the nervous smile, the wanton looks, your faces getting ever so slightly closer and closer? And then.... the kiss. Forgettable or Unforgettable?

Waiting can be an excrutiating thing... when time seems to NOT only be moving slower, BUT somehow in reverse? You wait for the phone to ring after a doctor's appointment... you feel fine, but those days before you get your test results back can be agonizing. There is a little bit of fear in the back of your mind, that you can't quite escape, until you hear that you're okay; no tumor, no cancer, no surgery to fear. How about waiting for quitting time on a Friday when the skies are clear blue and a cool breeze is blowing? It seems as if the day will never end, and all you can do is wait.



Waiting can be an aggravating thing... Have you ever been waiting for someone to call you, and you wait and hope and want, and the phone never rings. You look at the phone, but that never actually makes it ring. You leave the room and try to keep busy, keep your mind occupied thinking of something else; but the phone remains silent. You check for messages, but there are none. The more you want that phone call, the longer you have to wait for it to ring. There is nothing else you can do. You wait.



Waiting is the great equalizer. It doesn't matter when or where you were born. It doesn't matter if your family tree has roots going back to the Mayflower, or you live in a trailer park with your mother and her loser boyfriend, your sister and her three kids, two cats and a dog. We all spend a lot of time waiting, for one thing or another. Those with money might wait in a little more comfort, sure, but they wait all the same. No amount of money, social standing, good luck and good fortune makes anyone immune. We all wait for the same sun to rise in the same sky. We all wait for the dwindling light of dusk to be followed by a starry night. We all wait for days to come and go, begin and end. we all wait for time to pass. There is nothing we can do but wait. Some of those days are slow, some are fast, some memorable, forgettable, or better off forgotten.



So I wonder, what are we waiting for? Right now, is there something you're waiting for? How long are you going to wait? Another day? Another night? Another week or a month? We all wait together; in that we have something in common. A universal and eternal connection.



I don't know about you, but I'm tired of waiting.

Let me hear from you...