Waiting

Wrote this at the bus stop yesterday....

Waiting....
I've done an awful lot of it lately. Let's see, 15 min. with each child at the bus stop in the morning - 45 min. Between 45 min. and 1 hour waiting for all the bus runs in the afternoon (if they're not late.) Approximately 2 hours of my life M-F spent waiting. That doesn't include waiting in line at the grocery store, the post office, the doctor, the dentist, on hold on the phone, and let's not forget the biggie (in any major US city) - waiting in *traffic*.

Really, there's only 2 choices about waiting. You can wait patiently, or impatiently. A lot of people know exactly how to wait impatiently - eye rolling, sighing, pacing, watch checking. Many these days will wait by falling into their electronic devices - fiddling obsessively with their cell phone or blackberry. Which is fine by me. But then I love the ones who stand in line having A VERY LOUD CONVERSATION or worse yet a FIGHT on the phone with their significant other/best friend/fill-in-the-blank. While standing there. In. Line. Where you can't escape them. And you stand there wondering where to put your eyes, wishing you had ear plugs, and pondering how technology has really made things interesting for those of us who prefer to not air our dirty laundry in public. (Don't even get me started on people who have entire conversations with someone while using a *public restroom*. Sorry, but that is just wrong, on so many levels. Really? That call was that urgent you couldn't wait 2 minutes and have it *outside* the bathroom. Ahem, I digress.)

So in the interest of saving my sanity, I'm trying to practice ways of patiently waiting. I'll be at the bus stop - look for the person reading (or writing in) a book.