Waiting

As I checked my email for the hundredth time looking for a notification from the fabric store that the curbside pick-up order I placed over a week ago was ready for pick up, it hit me.  Through all of this we are learning how to wait.  In a world that had become accustomed to instant everything, we are all stuck at home waiting for the Covid-19 stats to decline, a vaccine, better treatment and for it to just go away.

Consider Amazon.  BC (Before Covid) I placed my order and in one or two days my order was at the front door.  I placed an order last week and still have not received it.  I got an estimate for one item of over 2 weeks for delivery!  It wasn't even toilet paper or hand sanitizer! It brought me back to the 80's when I would order things from a catalog and they would arrive a week or two later.  I just waited in anticipation.

Yes, a Zoom get together can bring this much joy!

While we have all been cooped up many of us have taken to Zoom for online meetings or chats with our long lost friends, family or co-workers.  For Zoom to work effectively only one person at a time can be talking otherwise it is nuts!  So....we wait our turn to talk.  This can be frustrating for some but result in more well thought out words than the "just blurt it out method".

BC, many people were using that new-fangled curbside pickup for their groceries.  Just order online and pick-up later in the day or the next day.  Not any more!  The wait time for curbside groceries is days not hours.

BC, I was a regular at my nearby grocery store.  I had gotten used to not planning ahead and just picking stuff up as needed or as the urge hit me.  No longer!  I have been waiting and planning ahead so I can limit my trips to the grocery.  (a huge mindset change pour moi!).  If I run out of cheddar cheese I will just have to WAIT until the next giant grocery run....or wait for a curbside pickup. 

Speaking of waiting....I will just be honest here but the truth is, every day I can't WAIT for happy hour, dinner and TV time. With so little to look forward to these days, I have been reduced to looking forward to the part of the day when I can do some of my favorite things.... eat, drink, watch some TV and stop trying to figure out how I am going to pass another day...at home.  What am I missing?  Is it just me or is everyone else out there feeling the same way?  I know there are families with parents working and kids schooling.  You don't have to think how to spend your days at home, you spend them just doing life and keeping your head above water.  You would probably be happy to trade days with me right now and have nothing to do for a while.  Here in the "near retirement home"....I am running out ways to entertain myself .  Ugh!  Even as a child, I needed a lot of outside stimulus to keep me going.  I was never the kid who could play alone for days.  I don't do alone very well!  Suffice it to say I can't WAIT until I can go somewhere....anywhere and be with people!

The Douro Valley in Portugal sits and waits for me.

Before all of this happened, I spent the better part of the late fall and a dreary January planning a trip to Portugal.  I spent days just looking at one beautiful place after another to include on our itinerary.  I made several reservations for accommodations and had finally settled on our route.  I must have looked at hundreds of potential places to visit, drives to take, historic locations to experience, and natural beauty to soak up and photograph.  We were very excited about our trip in June.  Alas, we have postponed our trip.  We will just have to wait...until the fall, if we are lucky...or next year if that isn't in the cards.  I have promised myself I will not obsess about this trip like I did in January lest I be disappointed...again.  I just have to wait and see how the world of travel shakes out through the summer.   The Douro Valley and I will have to wait until we meet each other.  There are countless other plans that were made in our world that are now waiting to be lived out by their planners.

The world is waiting to see what our new reality will look like after the virus.  Many can't wait to go back to work.  Kids can't wait to go back to school.  Everyone is waiting to see how our economy will survive.  There are thousands of people waiting to see loved ones again.  There are others waiting for their next breath to come easier.  There are exhausted workers waiting for a break. 
We are all waiting  (at home) for this to be over.

P.S.  I finally got my fabric order and spent a week making this....

It was worth the wait!