S'okay to Wait

The reason for Carole's prompt for today naturally brought tear to my eyes; sometimes it's really no fun being an adult.  I have to say that how I spent my time spent waiting has changed a lot over the years.  I have spent numerous hours waiting in doctors offices for various appointments, both my own, and for members of my family.  Once when the boys were smallish, maybe 7 and 9, we had a 3 hour wait at my mother's cardiologist.  No one bothered to call the patients to let them know that the doctor had to perform emergency surgery, and that the routine appointments would be delayed (ugh!).  I think the advent of the wifi, social media, and advancements in cell phone technology have changed the concept of waiting, whether for good or bad.  My list includes past and present ways to deal with waiting.

10.  Pray-circumstances may be such that this is really the only thing that can bring peace.
  9.  Play-I always made sure my boys had plenty of things to play with-small cars, legos, coloring books,  Game Boys, etc. 
  8.  Picnic-my tote bag always had goldfish, fruit, granola bars, juice boxes or water.  I never knew how long of a wait we'd have at times, and hungry people= grumpy people, and I'm referring mostly to myself!  The DMV in Marietta was known for such a long wait that someone came up with the idea of a hot dog cart because you could really be there for several hours.
  7.  Read-I usually have something in my bag, a magazine or book.
  6.  Stay connected-check emails, Instagram, Twitter, but I rarely make phone calls, sometimes it's real annoying to have to listen to someone else's chatter.  I always leave the waiting room if I have to take a phone call is more than a half minute.
  5.  Instagram and take other photos-kinda fun, but I am sure it annoys other folks.
  4.  Chat/listen-waiting is stressful for people, and it can be comforting to others to have someone just to listen or talk with them.  I admit, I'm not always good about initiating a conversation, but if someone wants to engage me, I'm game.
  3.  Peruse the internet- Pinterest, blogs, other websites-see #6
  2.  Watch TV-sometimes the waiting room will actually have something worth watching-I love when the channel is set to HGTV, the news, not so much.
  1. KNITTING! Even if the wait is only 15 minutes, I always have my knitting with me.  I try to keep projects with me that are not too involved or complicated- see #10, #4, and #2.  The knitting usually generates some conversation, or at least some "looks".

So yea, I don't actually mind waiting these days now that I don't have little one's to occupy, and I still come with snacks and water.  I have been fortunate to have only the rare waiting event where only #10 is app.