The waiting is the hardest part...

In talking with a friend last night she asked me, "What is your greatest weakness?"
Easy one. I'm impatient. Hell, I could hardly wait for her to get the question out of her mouth.
Do you know why I don't play the piano?
Because I don't want to LEARN to play the piano, I want to PLAY.
Two years of "Little Ducky on the Water" just doesn't turn me on.
I don't like to wait for anything to happen. It seems like a waste of time!

It's the same with whitening my teeth.....those little strips....day after day after day after day...
I want white teeth, but I want them now...not six weeks from now. (I hear Veruca Salt saying, "I want it NOW, Daddy!")
And exercising...Like my friend Kelly says in the middle of yoga class, "Am I skinny yet?!"
And, well, yes, waiting for the man of my dreams! (Where is he already?!)

I just like to be productive! When I have a goal, I follow the steps to make it happen and immediately want something to show for my time, effort, energy, etc. I know that time is precious, and I hate to waste a second of it waiting for something to happen.
Interestingly, life has been trying to teach me patience for years. Patience, persistence, and acceptance of a 'mean time'. I know oh too well that there is often a span of time before the anticipated and hoped-for result. What to do "in the meantime" becomes the question and, honestly, sometimes it feels like a very mean time.
Perhaps my greatest amount of 'mean time' was the nearly two decades I spent going to college. I took two or three classes a semester beginning in 1983 and didn't graduate until 2000! Dreaming of 'walking', wearing that cap and gown and knowing that I would forever have (and be able to tell people that I had) my Bachelor's Degree made it more appealing to keep going while working and taking care of a family...year after year after year. Totally worth the time and effort! The mean time was spent being 100% productive: studying, writing papers, and always planning what to take 'next semester'...usually what fit around my work schedule at Coco's, Little League practice and Girl Scout meetings!
More recently, the thing that has helped me understand and (almost) appreciate waiting is my tattoo removal process. I started treatments in October 2009. Yep, a year and a half ago. Very slowly, very gradually, (and extremely painfully) the tattoo has lightened up, faded a bit, has all but disappeared. I've appreciated the process itself: the commitment, the scheduling of appointments, the discipline I have to have to carry this out. I SO look forward to the day when it is no longer visible at all, and appreciated the progress along the way.

I often have to remind myself to enjoy the 'meantime', not always having to have instant results. I try to enjoy the ANTICIPATION...to STAY CURIOUS...to SAVOR the waiting time, knowing SOMETHING wonderful is on its way. These are things I can do in the NOW...which ultimately, truly is the mean time.
I then have to BELIEVE (and HOPE) that everything really worth having is really worth waiting for...the white teeth, the Bachelor's degree, the tattoo-free body, and especially, of course, the right man.
Who knows, maybe someday I'll even play the piano.
One thing for sure, I'm not missing one minute of NOW in the mean time.

Yeah, I guess it's not so mean after all...
actually it's kind of exciting.