Waiting

Today I find myself frustrated by the whole ethos of "waiting." We wait to go, we wait to get in, we wait to leave, we wait for people to arrive, we wait for people to leave, we wait for a baby to come (that's probably the primary key to this feeling - Maria's baby is due SOON, so we're all waiting for Luke's arrival.), we can't wait to get home, we wait for answers, we wait for information, we wait for a special call, we wait for an anticipated letter or message, we wait for "something," and often we only have the feeling of disquiet, but no answer.

"Disney employs more than 75 industrial engineers who help the company with queue management at its parks around the world," said Marilyn Waters, director of media relations at Walt Disney Imagineering. Is it comforting to know that our "waiting" is carefully programmed?

"Fair play -- or the idea of first come, first served -- is at the heart of most successful queues. It's one of the reasons most banks, airlines and fast-food restaurants have switched from several open lines that force customers to choose the line they think is moving fastest, to a single serpentine line, which guarantees first come, first served," an authority on waiting has said.

So, I guess the bottom line about "waiting" is that we simply don't want to do it because there is always that nagging posssibility that our waiting won't end. Or, perhaps we like the "waiting" for precisely that reason: we don't want this moment, this time, this experience, this relationship to end.

Hmmm, maybe I've answered why I'm "waiting."