The Ultimate Opportunity

In my nursing career, I frequently reminded clients that one can always get on a waiting list. Granted, in these instances, the waiting lists were related to health care, housing, or even funding. But I was presented with a similar dilemma last week as I perused the Continuing Studies @ Uvic Calendar for Jan-Aug 2020. Languishing in my so-called inbox for a couple of months, I was tempted to put it in the recycling. I was certain all the classes would be filled up. But in the spirit of following through on a personal interest, I opened it and went immediately to the Visual Arts section. Looking for writing classes, I found Chronicling the Stories of Your Life. Aha! A writing project that’s been in the works for quite sometime exactly relates to this class. Zipping over to my iPad, I looked it up. Oh, darn. It’s full. Just as I was about to close the link, I spied the words ‘Waiting List’ in the corner of the screen. I remembered those reminders to my clients ~ ‘Get on the waiting list’.

As of one week ago, I took my own advice and am now on the waiting list for Chronicling the Stories of Your Life. Writing forms a big part of every day for me. Not just this blog, but my personal journal, the occasional review for a fellow writer and the inevitable shopping list. On my blog, Standing Still Slowly, I’ve become a novice writer of book reviews and movie reviews, muses and poetry, and in general the activities of life that I’ve shared with family or friends. And then there's reading about writing. Although I 've taken several writing classes and workshops, I still wait and look for opportunities to support and improve my writing. 

We all have our own waiting lists in this life. Not all are written down though. We wait for our food to cook and do the next thing on our mental list. We mentally review our next steps while we drive to or from work. Our mental waiting lists are filed and waiting for our attention when the time is right. Waiting lists are not blank times with little to offer, but beautiful creative spaces that we can choose to fill with colourful lives, or we can just wait. While I wait for this writing class to come up, there is so much more that will fill that space with learning. Learning more about this new world in retirement, with interests from before the adult world consumed my life. Learning has always been exciting and a joy in my life. Waiting is the ultimate opportunity.

“The world is always open, 

Waiting to be discovered.”

~ Dejan Stojanovic, Circling: 1978-1987