What are you waiting for?

Sometimes life is just easier to understand when you use metaphors, at least for me it is. If I can find something to relate my current crisis to, then I can usually find a way to approach it or at least find more insight than trying to face it head on as it is. One place I find myself relating to often is a waiting room. The type of waiting room varies by what I feel like I'm waiting for. I'm the kind of person that enjoys living life far more than waiting for life to find me, but there are times when I know I am needed to observe and not act. The problem is, no one likes waiting rooms. Waiting rooms are places specifically designed to be temporary and you always want your stay to be as brief as possible, but sometimes you are there for a longer period of time than you expected. What do you do then? Waiting rooms aren't designed for extended stays! The chairs are uncomfortable, the magazines are few and often out dated, the walls are are bare aside from a few generic pieces of poorly matched artwork. I've been in a few waiting room where the only interesting item in the room was the state licensing on the wall. I've never gone anywhere in which I was looking forward to spending time in the waiting room. Your outlook and patience, however, can vary depending on what you are waiting for. If you are waiting in a doctor's office, your mind can be in several different places. If this is a check up, you might bring a book, settle in a chair, and wait for the whole thing to be done. You know what to expect, you know the nurse that will be calling your name, and as long as there aren't any tornado sightings while you are changing into your gown, you can assume that the mundane experience will be brief and life will proceed as normal. Other times, you may be waiting for relief. You may be feeling ill and dealing with symptoms you couldn't heal on your own with over-the-counter or holistic medicine. You are anxious and uncomfortable and you probably feel like everyone in the waiting room is repulsed by you, hoping they don't catch what ever you have. You are waiting for whomever to call your name and lead you to a cure. Occasionally though, you may be waiting for something else, maybe results from a recent test or to undergo surgery. You might be in a waiting room you've visited several times, but now it seems different. Time seems to have stopped and even though you are anxious to go, you understand that life may be completely different once you are called through the doors.
Doctors' offices aren't the only places with waiting areas. Maybe you are meeting friends at a restaurant and you are waiting to be seated. They might give you a menu and offer you a seat at the bar, but all you really want to do is start your dining experience. Sometimes I go to a restaurant and know exactly what I want. I have a specific craving for a tried and true recipe and I know it'll hit the spot, but most times I am up for a surprise. I like to try new adventurous places, read the menu thoroughly, ask the waiters advice, and try something I've never had before. At those times, I am so excited and can hardly wait... will it be an inventive new sushi roll or maybe even the habanero curry I've been wanting to check out?
Sometimes your house can feel like a waiting room too and that can be the worst! You might be waiting for the phone to ring or waiting for a friend to return after a long absence, you might be waiting to feel better, or waiting for the popcorn to finish popping. Maybe your waiting to yell "surprise!" or waiting to confront a problem that is long overdo. When you are waiting at home, all the walls feel like they are closing in around you and there is nothing within your possession that can occupy your mind. You can't get the house clean enough, or do enough jumping jacks to exhaust your thoughts, and the silence is often too deafening to endure.
Right now, I feel like I'm in all kinds of waiting rooms. There are plenty of things I'm anxious for, but I know that, at the moment, it is my time to be patient. I think I am here right now to gather the grace to accept whatever might come, whether it be the phone to ring, medical results I've waited years to hear, or a big spicy bowl of habanero curry.