Waiting

I spent some time in a waiting room today. I went to visit a parishioner in the hospital and there was a note on her door: "Be Patient. I am bathing" So I went to the waiting room at St. Ainn's Hospital and ruminated about "Waiting."

The waiting room is a place for nothing but waiting. The furniture is sturdy, comfortable, durable and kind of homy. There are magazines on tables - trying to meeting the needs of anyone who is waiting: "Home and Away." "Good Housekeeping" "Time" National Geographic" and "Sports Illustrated - Golf"

And I wonder all the people who have sat on these chairs and couches waiting for news from surgery or people to finish bathing or their turn to visit. A place just for waiting. And I wonder: Is waiting time wasted time? Time in between or time of holiness - but we just don't know it at the time.

And I think about the times I have waited that I now remember and cherish
- being with my father and brothers and waiting while my mother had surgery for ovarian cancer
- being with Kacey and Marnie and waiting while Marnie was having a baby
- being with Chris Connor and Maria and waiting when Kacey was having surgery for a broken leg
- being with Chuck at the airport in Nashville and waiting for Audrey to come home from Africa.
- Being with lots of people that I love and waiting for surgery at Wood Country Hospital in Bowling Green and MCO in Toledo and St Ann's and Riverside here in Columbus.

So, I wait again today and know that in the midst of this is God and love and perhaps the making of memories.