Today, while I was waiting for this week to end, I started thinking about all the waiting I seem to do in my life. Patience is an asset in Navy life, as we spouses seem to spend a lot of time waiting. Waiting for the ship to leave, or waiting for the ship to come in, waiting for the mail, waiting for a phone call. The list goes on and on. You get the idea.
From the start of our relationship I was waiting. Waiting for the weekend to come, so that we could see each other. Law school (for me) and flight school (for him) were separated by a 3 hour car drive (which, after a year, turned into a 6 hour drive when he moved even further away). My week at school was defined by waiting for Friday so that I could hop in the car and drive to see him. In retrospect I think all this waiting was probably helpful - little did I know then how much waiting a Navy spouse actually does.
Waiting can be a good thing - waiting for the birth of our little dude was the best 8 months of my life. Until he came a month early and then I was waiting again - for his dad to come home and meet him. But that 's a story for another day.
Eventually the waiting becomes so rote and familiar that you stop realizing you're waiting because you're too busy getting on with your life. That's the thing I learned very early on - stay busy and try not to think about the waiting. Otherwise you'll wait your life away. Once you get past the waiting you realize all the exciting things you can be doing to help pass the time (like blogging).
I think Dr. Seuss said it best, in one of our most favorite books, Oh, the Places You'll Go!
...Headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting...
Everyone is just waiting.
NO!
That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.
With banner flip-flapping
once more you'll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you're that kind of a guy!
I hope I'm that kind of guy. Because let's be honest - doesn't the "bright place where Boom Bands are playing" sound like somewhere you'd like to be?
