Waiting

So, I got this e-mail today... "Waiting patiently for your next blog!"

Wow! Surprised the heck out of me. Someone is actually out there, waiting for my next blog? Hell, I never knew I was so interesting... I suppose I just thought of this as my own personal soapbox space and that people might pay me the cyber-lip-service of visiting once, just to say they had; but I never expected that anyone would actually be waiting for the next one.

Cool. Surprising, but cool.

It got me thinking about waiting... It's rarely an unemotional activity, waiting... I mean, think about it... It's often combined with an emotion that makes the activity of waiting either painful, or painfully delicious.

Waiting for your next dentist appointment -- definitely painful. Sometimes the waiting is more painful than the actual visit.

Waiting for final grades in a course after the examination... positively obsessively nerve-wracking.

Waiting for results from a doctor's office... a mix of hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

Waiting for someone who's late for a meeting, or worse, a date... depending on your character, this could produce worry or annoyance. In me, it produces both emotions simultaneously, which can be hard to cover up when the party actually arrives. "You better have a damned good reason... Oh my God, are you all right? I'm so glad you're here!" That's so not a cool way to greet someone.

There are times when waiting can be dangerous... That is, when the waiting becomes infected with an overactive imagination and whatever it is that's anticipated gets built up beyond any human possibility. Then, when the waiting finally comes to an end, the reality can never match up to the fantasy and you feel your emotional bubble is burst by the time the waiting is over.

Then there's the kind of waiting that is tantalizing and delightfully agonizing... waiting for that first kiss with someone, for example. The butterflies in your stomach certainly indicate that the waiting is charged with emotion. You know it's going to happen. You just don't know exactly when or where or how... That's the kind of delicious waiting that almost has a taste of its own, it's so powerful.

But it does seem safe to say that waiting, as innocent as it may seem, rarely acts on its own. Its accomplices are emotions that vary from situation to situation and person to person.

As I wrap this up, I know that my bed is waiting for me, or rather, that I am waiting for it… tired after a full day of working, volunteering and now, blogging... tired and a little fuzzy-headed with the onset of a summer cold. So I find the thought of my bed, and more precisely, sleep, so delightful that I really must end here for the moment.

I invite your comments on waiting. In fact, I’m interested to know… So… what are you waiting for? :-)