Hurry Up and Wait
Satisfied, Cora put down her pen. There was nothing left to do but wait. Waiting was really all she had ever done. Waiting for the phone to ring, waiting for the next person in the grocery line to be checked through, waiting for the cake to bake…..Waiting! Is that all there is to life? Even as a child, all she remembered was ~ wait. Her mom saying ‘wait a minute while I finish washing the supper dishes.’ or 'Hurry out to the bus stop and wait for the bus.’
She had written a letter to the editor about the dreadful lack of attention that was being paid to the wait lists at hospitals for surgeries and for tests. And now, Cora was in line on her own wait list - for the mail to go through, the editor to read and decide whether her letter was worthy of publishing and then whether it made any difference at all. It had made a difference to how she felt - she had at least voiced her concerns from her viewpoint. She had been, for over fifteen years, the receptionist monitoring the wait lists, cancellations, and re-bookings not to mention the just plain frustrated and often angry people wanting and deserving needed health services. When she spoke with her superiors, most of whom were younger then her, she heard the recycled line - “Help is on the way”.
Cora had learned to fill her time with gardening, reading and handcrafts. The relationships she built in her neighbourhood were fun and satisfying. She decided that waiting wasn’t always such a bad thing. Waiting was really open to opportunities that her work place couldn’t satisfy. Putting pen and paper away, Cora picked up the latest novel that she was reading. It was a mystery full of dark alleys and grisly murders, detectives and criminals that crossed too many lines. Her hot cup of tea and easy chair awaited her company.
“To live only for some future goal is shallow. It’s the sides
of the mountain that sustain life, not the top.”
~ Robert M. Pirsig
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