Waiting

I have been doing plenty of waiting the past few days.

When I had a real job, I rarely took all of my vacation and I was always available for clients. And since school started in August I have been studying constantly.

So two weeks ago, when the semester was over and I found myself sitting alone in the VTS Welcome Center, I didn’t know what to do. For the first time in a long time, I had absolutely nothing to do. So I sat for a bit, and wandered around campus for a bit, and perused the sale book cart in the library for a bit.

And it was killing me.

Surely there was something better I could have been doing. I should have been productive, right? I should have been accomplishing some goal and completing some task?

See, I don’t wait very well.

Last week Elizabeth started her annual Cotton Bowl work, so I took sole responsibility for the boys. I became a single parent. While staying at my in-laws, there was plenty of waiting while the boys were sleeping. And there was plenty of waiting in parking lots during our (sometimes) successful car naps.

And then came the airport.

I’m pretty type-A, so I made sure we got to the airport in plenty of time. But it was New Year’s Day, and there was nobody in the security line. We walked right up, went straight through, and got to our gate with two hours to……wait.

Maverick, our five-year-old, is “doing.” And Goose, the three-year-old, is always talking. So I was pretty worried that our time at the airport would consist of me chasing, shushing, and disciplining two kids. Either that or giving up and giving them the iPads.

But a funny thing happened. They waited.

Sure, they colored, played with their stickers, and moved around the boarding area a bit. But they were calm, collected, and compliant. They just waited.

When I asked Maverick why he was being so patient, he said it was because he was “waiting to see what was next on our adventure.”

This trip to Texas and back was the first airplane ride for the boys. So every step along the way was new and different and exciting. So they didn’t want to miss anything, and they wanted to enjoy everything.

So I’m going to do the same.

Elizabeth, the boys, and I have embarked on a tremendous adventure. We left rock-solid security and a great life to come be poor grad students. We left our family, friends, and church to move across the country. We left everything we knew to follow the Holy Spirit wherever she leads. That is scary.

But it also is new and exciting and different.

And when I’m constantly going and doing, I miss plenty and don’t have time to enjoy much. Today as I walked to Morning Prayer, there was no one around. I noticed the squirrels making noises (seriously, I didn’t know they did this: http://www.squirrels.org/faq.html#Q11). And then walking out around campus to get Goose from school I stopped to watch the giant snowflakes.

In just one short day I was able to notice two things I have never before experienced. Hopefully the slow, peaceful weeks of January, without class and studying and working, will allow me to get in the habit of noticing more. And my upcoming trip to Jerusalem (more on that later) definitely should help me refocus of enjoying the present moment. I have much to learn and experience and do over the next three years, and I don’t want to miss anything and I want to enjoy everything.

Now all I have to do is wait.