I recently drove to work as I do every workday. A long winding road with a lake view most of the way. I take time to enjoy the ride as my mind races thinking of the tasks at hand when I arrive. I have been giving myself more time in the morning because other drivers seem to drive slowly on my route. I’ve come to know the problem isn’t really them, it’s me not giving myself the needed time. How many of us see a commute that says 10 minutes, so we leave ten minutes early to get there? But that’s without the person who is not going the speed limit, the person on their phone, the snow and ice, etc. I decided I might be creating the problem and decided to leave earlier.
So this past Tuesday I left with time, but a train stopped me. I waited and put my car in park for the train to pass. I do not stress over trains. What can you do, they are moving to get somewhere too. Then the train was gone and the gates did not open. It wasn’t too long like 20 seconds and a car (not the first one by the gates) just moved into the oncoming lane and went through the railroad gates. Then another, and another. This continued in a haphazard way with cars behind me going a short distance in the oncoming lane to speed through the gates since they were not lifted yet. I laughed all by myself in my warm car. I shook my head. And then the thought of how Anna’s life has taught me to wait made my heart grow bigger. I smiled because of her.
We wait like no other mother. We wait in good fashion, with pleasant attitudes. We wait in hospitals, meetings, in suspense for answers, wait for our child to stop that nerve wracking habit they are obsessed with, for medical supplies, etc. We wait maybe for cures, for new care workers, for better handicapped parking spots, the list goes on. We wait well.
Thank goodness for the waiting. Thank goodness for the lessons. Thank you for the waiting Anna. Waiting for us can be a time to grow and hope. A time to rest before the waiting stops and the storm hits. The storm hits hard and we have to take cover, mentally and physically. We have to wait for the feelings of stress and despair to leave. Our waiting is a new kind, a “lived kind” and we are extra special because of it.
I have learned this precious skill from her. Now I take it and pull it out in the parked car when others go crazy speeding around closed railroad gates. I appreciate the stillness because life can crack like an earthquake in our world in a moment’s notice. Yes, others experience extreme hardships. We are not singled out just because we are Warriors. Our difference though is that because we have this huge complexity in our lives to juggle 24/7 we have learned the skills of waiting and relaxing. We have been the students and our kids the teachers. Their assignments given to us keep giving back as we try to be the best student for them. I am grateful to keep learning and be a student. Thank you Anna, a great teacher you are.
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