Those three words give me a little thrill.
It feels like every single day more options become available to wait… less.
Instant info…
Instant speech…
Instant pictures…
Instant food…
Instant lights on…
Instant air freshener…
Instant communication…
Instant up and down tall buildings…
Instant parallel parking with no hands…
Instant shopping…
Instant entertainment…
Instant knowledge…
Instant intimacy…
We are training ourselves to become “instant fanatics.”
We are the I WANT IT NOW generation.
But, there is something about “the wait” that captures things inside our souls that we long for.
A simmering pot of chicken soup…
Lighting a candle menorah…
Warming up cold sheets with your feet…
Christmas Eve count down…
The first opening blossom of spring…
That first touch of a hand by new love…
A long ride to see loved ones far away…
We rush for convenience.
It’s a pain to wait!
But our senses miss
the process
of
waiting
and imagining
and thinking about
what
is
about
to
come.
There is so much
sensory filled happiness
in
anticipation.
Christopher Robin asks Pooh about his favorite things to do:
“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best–,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although eating honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.
(Part of Joyful anticipation by Ingrid Fetell Lee)
Lee, I. F. (2018). Joyful. New York, NY: Little, Brown Spark.
What do I do now? 