I received a call from a friend yesterday wondering if Lisa and I were still alive since we had not blogged for over a month.  We are not only very alive – we aren’t even sick.  We are just in an extended waiting period for Lisa’s next travel assignment and in the meantime – just enjoying being home.  Lisa and I are getting better at waiting – which is absolutely necessary when you travel from job assignment to job assignment.  It is not easy and even, at times, a little frustrating – but we have no other choice.  Noah may have waited as long as seventy years for the rains to finally come – so what is a couple of months?

Waiting for something to happen that is out of your control is made worse when in a hurry.  I was at a local bank the other day and a lady in line became so frustrated with her wait that she declared the situation “ridiculous” and stomped out.  She probably drove across town to another bank branch and got in another line – and probably waited some more.  I get it – hurry and waiting don’t mix.  When I have things on my mind to get done I don’t want or even expect delays.  But when they happen it is as if someone took control of my “to-do” list and threw in a few “wait in line for ten minutes” here and there.  There have been times I thought my head may spin-off if the cashier did not quit talking and get on to the next customer in line.  These Hostess donuts won’t keep forever.

It has taken me almost two years of retirement to gear myself down from that frantic hurrying mind-set that I developed over the past thirty plus years.  It is just not easy to slow down and even harder to patiently wait for something. If I can get better at waiting – I may add a few years to my life and I know I will be a happier person.  Maybe that is why older people tend to drive slower, walk slower, talk slower.  It may have nothing to do with health or age issues – they just “geared down” more and more until they reached a point that you would swear if they went slower they would be in reverse.

Next time you get behind an elderly driver – you know the one that is driving the mid-nineties Taurus that can barely see over the steering wheel – try not zooming around them in anger at the first opportunity. Instead stay in their lane for a few minutes, take a deep breath and wait.  You may enjoy the view.

Take Care!