The Traveling circus

We spend alot of time waiting.  We wait for the coffee to brew.  We wait at stoplights.  We wait for our computers.  We wait for test results.  We wait for the mail, the check, the phonecall, the weather, the dinnerguests, the pizza, the battery to charge, the movie to start.  These are the often mundane but necessary things we wait for that occupy our everyday lives, things that make our life a little bit better in their own way.  These are things worth waiting for, otherwise we wouldn't be waiting for them in the first place. But how many other things in life do we wait for and not even realize?

I'm in the loft at my sister's house in central Oregon.  Stop one on a ten day journey down the west coast.  I waited today.  My bus broke down this morning and after spending the entire day underneath, inside and around a rear engine compartment, I finally broke down and sought a mechanic.  That's when I waited.  I waited for the news that the parts wouldn't be in until next week.  Waited to hear that my vacation would be cancelled before it even had the chance to begin.  I waited to hear that it would cost three times more than I expected.  Then the call came.  It was fixed.  Forty bucks, forty minutes and a firm handshake later I was driving away, smiling and knowing that my trip could continue as planned.  The trip that I had waited so long for.

As I see it, traveling is a matter of waiting even though you're actually doing something.  Traveling is accomplished in one of two ways.  The first way is to get there.  You know where you're going, have a specific reason to go there and want to get the traveling over with as soon as possible.  The second occupies a different methodology.  You know where you're going but you also know that you'll get there soon enough.  And you know that whatever is waiting for you at your destination doesn't know exactly when you left, doesn't know your exact route, will be there when you get there and may not exactly holding their breath for you to arrive.  But they are nontheless, waiting.  

Getting where we're going is always a journey, whether we're making the trip in our car, an airplane or just in our own mind.  Though we may be driving, reading, riding, talking, hoping or dreaming, we are all invariably waiting at some point.  Maybe waiting for life to take us to where we want to be, maybe waiting for the chips to fall where they may, maybe waiting for the dominoes to fall in line, maybe waiting for something specific, maybe waiting for our coffee.  We all hate to wait, but sometimes waiting is worth it.  Some things are just worth waiting for.