Ralph Waldo Emerson
How much of human life is lost in waiting?

On the top of the pile of things my crazy mind is thinking about today, is the realization of how much time all of us spend WAITING.

We wait for the traffic light to change to green.
We wait in line to pay for our groceries.
We wait for our hair to grow out.
We wait for the six weeks or six months until a planned vacation can be taken.
We wait for dinner to be ready; for the wet clothes in the dryer to dry.

The list goes on and on.

Benjamin Franklin
He that waits upon fortune, is never sure of a dinner.

And the waiting we do is never done with pleasure.  As we wait, we often pace impatiently.  We get tired of waiting.  We can’t wait until something is going to finally happen.

Synonyms for “wait” include:  bide, delay, hold back, hold on, keep shirt on, lie in wait, stall, and keep your shirt on.  “Waiting” is not a nice word nor a nice thing.  It always refers to holding out for something to happen, arrive, come to be, or change.

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Neither a wise nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him.

The other day I had to wait for an hour to see the eye doctor.  But when that hour was up, I had to reschedule because I had a dentist’s appointment to get to!  I never saw the eye doctor that day.  I was a little bit angry.  All that waiting with no reward in the end.  I will go back next week.

My friend’s husband just found out he needed heart bypass surgery on Monday.  After trying to get comfortable with the idea of major surgery in just three short days, the surgeon’s office called and rescheduled him for tomorrow morning!  He didn’t exactly like that.  He knew he was going to have two days to wait and to get ready, now his wait got cut short and his couple day wait got changed to a wait of less than twenty-four hours.  The sudden shorter wait was even more uncomfortable and now I am sure he can’t wait until it’s over!

A special needs friend of my daughter, Amanda, suddenly needed help with getting her clothes changed.  This friend lived by herself in an apartment and had part-time staff that came to help her.  This poor girl was sitting in messy clothes, waiting for some mystery new staff worker to show up and help her get cleaned up.  I wanted to cry for this poor girl.  Waiting for someone to show up to help must have felt like an eternity.

Benjamin Franklin
If you have time, don’t wait for time.

I have learned that it is pretty much a waste of time to sit around and worry.  I want to add to that and say that it is a waste of time to sit around and wait, too!  Two bad ‘w’ words!  haha  I’ve got better things to do than be worrying and waiting!

Maybe if I try not to think that I am waiting for something – but rather have it be that I am anticipating something!  That sounds better.  It makes me look forward and expect something.  It’s a positive way to wait.

I hope all the things you are waiting for happen all in good time.  🙂   Don’t waste your time waiting.

just Laurel

Hebrews 6:15
And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.

Romans 8:25
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently

I don’t want you to go a day with having something from me to read!  Writing my daily blog is a priority.  But I am so very tired.  The alarm went off at 5:15 this morning for me to get an early start at work.  Tomorrow’s alarm will be even earlier.  So, I cannot comprehend a lengthy blog for you tonight.  My apologies.  Instead, I will share a few pure facts that take little discussion – simply sharing with you a few tidbits I shall title:  “Didja knows?”

Didja know my husband was on the roof again tonight?  I guess there are still acorns filling the gutters, but the leaves are starting to fall as well  He says he doesn’t enjoy getting on the roof.  Baloney.  I really think he likes it up there.  Maybe it makes him feel elevated (haha yeah) or just like superman or something.  I have to confess that I was getting dinner ready when he climbed the ladder to the roof.  I suddenly heard a very loud THUD on the roof above.  I had visions of him falling, and seriously thought for a brief moment that I should go check on him.  But I didn’t.  I was too tired.  I simply gave it a few minutes and hoped I would hear him moving around again.  I did.

Didja know that October is Spina Bifida Awareness Month?  Yes it is.  Spina bifida uses a light yellow colored ribbon for our cause.  Want to know more about spina bifida?  Read:  Amanda, Perfectly Made!

Didja know that tumor on my hand is starting to hurt?  I see the surgeon next week and then I’ll have a surgery date.

Didja know that we have decided to keep Amanda close by and have secured an apartment just down the road from us?  It’s on West Road.  When I told her our change of plans, her first response was to ask, “So I’ll get to go to St. Paul Church every weekend still?”  When I answered that, yes, that was true she responded with a big smile, “Yessss!”

Didja know that squirrels forget where they hide about half of their nuts?

Told you I was tired.

just Laurel

If you are keeping up to date with reading my blogs, you will have read about my trip with Ted to the emergency room about a week ago.  Ted was experiencing some pretty extreme left arm pain, so we took that heart attack warning sign seriously and went to the ER to get checked out.  He was fine.  Throughout the wee hours of the morning as doctors and nurses checked on Ted and wrote their reports, the repeated question to Ted was, “Describe your pain.”  Ted had a tough time with that question.  They wanted to know if it was burning, or stabbing, or dull, or achy and on a scale of one to ten, what number was the pain at.  Ted had to ‘hmm’ and ‘haw’ over that.  “My arm hurts and my fingers are numb!” was all he really wanted to say.  And he thought that ‘scale from one to ten” was silly because he knew how much it hurt – but how bad would it get?  Could it get?  Was the pain he was feeling a “nine” because it was almost as bad as it was going to get or was he only whining about a “four” so watch out for when it’s really going to hurt.

Today I was thinking about his pain report and realized that the reason Ted struggled with his answers was because Ted was unfamiliar with pain.  Ted is healthy and has no painful health ailments to complain of.  No achy arthritic joints, no sore back problems.  He has never been through enough attacks of pain to be proficient at giving measurable descriptions of the pain he was having.  That’s a good thing, of course.  No one really wants to be familiar with pain, although I realize many are.

They say that Eskimos have a whole ton of ways to describe snow.  Well, of course they would!  They get a lot more snow than most of us.  They are familiar with snow.  So, whereas we can speak about a wet snow or a powdery snow, the Eskimo people,, or Inuit, deal with all sorts of snowy conditions.  The frequency of snow in their lives naturally gives them more familiarity of the different ways snow can come down and cover so that they are able to describe it more intimately.

Obviously, my point is that the more you get to know a thing, or a person, the better you will be at describing them.

Here’s another example.  You walk into a room and you are asked to describe what color the wall has been painted.  “White.” you may say.  But the trained eye of an artist or decorator may see opal, linen, eggshell, pearl, or countless shades of white.  The experienced eye will notice the differences and be able to describe the subtle variations.  They are familiar with color tints and hues.

So if familiarity increases with how well you can describe something or some one …

Then tell me about Jesus Christ.  If you just say “He’s God.  He’s the guy I talk to on Sundays,” then I don’t think you know Him very well.  Through the centuries, people have called God by many names as they got to know Him and experience Him.  Have you gotten to know Him?  Are you familiar with him?  Some call Him Lord, love, life, friend, or King of Kings.  He is Jehovah and the alpha and omega.  He is rest to the weary and peace to the worried.  He is hope to the hopeless, and strength to the weak.

Are you familiar with Jesus?

just Laurel

Matthew 16:15  “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Stuck!  We’ve all been there.  Stuck in traffic.  Stuck in a bad situation.  Stuck in a undesireable job.  Stuck in the airport.

I left the house early this morning to make a forty mile drive to get my MRI for the “too-mah” on the palm of my hand.  I drove down the road and got on the ramp for the freeway … and then stopped.  No!  I had thirty-eight more miles to go and already I was stuck in construction traffic.  Oh dear.  I really get antsy crawling in traffic.  Exhaling and digging deep for any stored patience, I managed to get to the end of the construction zone and was back to speed in about ten minutes.  Not too bad.  Just a bad start to a long drive to a place I’ve never been before.  I was going to be late.

I suppose I hadn’t planned enough time for the drive and should have gotten an earlier start.  But I was on my own with Amanda and had to get her all dressed, fed, and washed for the day before I could leave.  Usually Ted is around to help.  But Ted is also stuck.   Ted left the day before and was in Indiana overnight.  Without giving details, his boss wanted him there for a certain account that they are trying to arrange business with.  Ted felt it could be done over the phone.  But the boss said go, and you have to listen to the boss.  Ted is stuck in Indiana until business can be taken care of.

I was late for my MRI, but had called ahead to let them know I was on my way.  It was all good.  Then it was my turn.  Now I’ve had MRI’s and I knew pretty much what to expect.  Before taking me for my turn, the tech asked me if I needed to use the restroom.  I answered “No.”  Maybe that was a mistake.  We got to the great machine where I was told to lie on my stomach with my left hand stretched straight over my head, as if I was raising my hand to ask a question, only I was lying face down.  My hand got laid on a cushion, covered with a cushion, and then strapped down nice and secure.  With earplugs in place, they slid me in the tube – hand first – as if I was diving in – or saluting – Heil Hitler? – or maybe just a one-armed Superman pose?   The fact was, my left arm and hand were stuck in position.   I was told not to move.  They took some pictures.  Then they took some more pictures.  Then more.  Then “One more four-minute scan.”  Geez.  How many pictures of my hand can they take???  My fingers were really getting numb.  Finally, they backed me out of the tube to ‘inject.’  Lying like I was, with my left hand strapped down and stuck in the same position, I had to bring my right arm forward, palm up so the nurse could poke a need in the crook of my arm and fill my veins with some stuff that would show up on the MRI.   Quick!  Back into the tube they slid me for more pictures.  Now I was thinking that I really should have gone pee.  And not only were my fingers numb, but my whole hand and half way up my arm.  Uh oh – now I had this sudden intense itch on my nose – and I couldn’t scratch it!  I was stuck!

Of course, I survived.  I got to itch my nose.  I got to use the restroom.  They got their pictures.

Sometimes life puts you in a place where you feel stuck.  It is always temporary.  Things can change in a minute.  Sometimes you can be stuck for days, months, or years.  But it is a temporary place between the start, and the end or resolution of the un-liked ‘stuck-ed-ness.’

But to come to the end of your waiting in that stuck-limbo, you are probably back on the right track and cruising down the road in the right direction.  Or you’ve left the other state, and have made it home again.  (see you soon Teddy)  And just when everything went completely numb and you thought you could never feel again – everything gets back to normal.

If you are stuck somewhere – hang in there.  You’ll find your way out :-).

just Laurel

Ecclesiastes 7:8  The end of a matter is better than its beginning, and patience is better than pride.

1 Corinthians 10:13  And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

It started first thing this morning.  I caught a news story on the ‘crawl’ line of the morning news show I was watching.  I saw the story drift past – something about the G & J Trucking Building being on fire.  I told Ted about it as I hurried out the door to work.  Ted knew the man who owned that business.  By the time I got to work, Ted texted me to say that it was the J & G Trucking company in Detroit (NOT the guy he knew) whose building was on fire.  G & J ?  J & G ?  Whatev.  I told him that I was sorry to be a little dyslexic.  He responded that “dyslexia could eb contagious.”  “Sey it could,” I replied.

At work, a co-worker commented on my name, asking if it was pronounced “lore-uhl”  or “lore-ell.”  I told her the first way was correct.  She told me her daughter’s name was “Amy,” but that in her native country of India, they pronounced it “ah-me.”

Isn’t it interesting how a change of letter order can change things?  Or, how you see and read a word can change things up quite a bit, too.

Later, at work, another co-worker was asking me about the “drop sheets.”  I was having a brain fog moment as I was trying to figure out what she was talking about.  I was stuck on thinking about “drop down boxes” on web site pages where you choose items from the drop down.  I also was thinking it could be some kind of sheet listing patients that were dropped (from the schedule) or some other thing that was dropped or eliminated.  Duh…Laurel…we do eye surgeries here and use eye DROPS all the time.  She was talking about the EYE drop sheets that list the eye drops patients must use.

This saga of changed letters, misreads, and rearranged letters continues!

I believe I blogged once before about how the word ‘listen’ is composed of the same letters as the word ‘silent.’  Hmmm …. so much meaning there!  Shut up and be silent if you really want to listen and not just hear what’s being said!

And the other day while I was working on my computer, a couple of funny words popped up.  First, I was writing about developmental disabilities and it came out ‘develoopmental.’  Oh my.  I think that tells it all!  Anyone who isn’t quite right could be called ‘loopy’ and that makes us all a ‘lil develoopmentally disabled!  Why not.  It sure gives more definition to the word, doesn’t it?  And then….

I was writing something about one of my son-in-laws, and typed out “son-in-aw.”  Wow.  What if instead of “in-laws” we called them all “in-aws” – like we were in awe of them?  Makes it sound so much nicer.  To say ‘mother-in-law’ makes you think of “out-laws” and then sheriffs, and guns and fighting and all things negative.  Instead, we can say how much we love our mother/father/brother/sister-in-aw.  Aww!  Isn’t that sweet?

Interesting how a letter added, changed, or deleted can change the meaning of a word.  Or simply how a word is read.  It’s kind of fun.  Don’t depend on spell check!  I’m sure you have all encountered some ‘oops’s’ there!

I just know, that the best thing to do when puzzled by what I read, is to question the author.  And I will mind my P’s and Q’s.  Or is it my Q’s and P’s?  Oh – and I do LOVE my son-in-aws!

But I think John says it best:

3 John 1:13-14  ¹³ I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

just Laurel