Have you ever stopped to think about how much time we spend waiting? We wait in line almost everywhere we go: the supermarket, the movies, the bank, etc. We wait for things like letters, packages, and Christmas. We are always waiting for one thing or another. It seems like our whole lives are nothing but one big wait.

Just the other day, for example, I started my day off by waiting in traffic because a construction crew had one lane of the highway closed. When I finally arrived at work, I had a phone call to return and I�m sure I waited on hold for at least eight minutes. At least they had good hold music. Then, as I waded through the paperwork on my desk, I found myself glancing at the clock, waiting for lunch time to roll around. During my lunch break, I made a trip to the bank, only to wait in the drive-thru for what seemed like an eternity. Back at work, I waited several more times: for an important fax to arrive, for a co-worker to return my call, and for the little hand on the clock to point to five so I could go home. And that�s not all. On my way home, I stopped by Wal-Mart, only to wait some more at the checkout line. That�s where I was when I started thinking about waiting. I had never realized how much time we actually spend just waiting.

If we took the time to count up all the waiting we do, we would be astonished. I�m not going to actually count it up, but my guess would be that, on average, we spend a good six or eight hours per week waiting for things. What can we do about it? Nothing, I suppose. We can�t make that cashier ring up items any faster. I guess waiting is just a part of life. And besides, if we never had to wait for things, we probably wouldn�t appreciate them as much. So don�t think of waiting as a negative thing� think of waiting as �anticipation�. Now that sounds better, doesn�t it?

shauna k.
� 2001