Waiting on the Handyman

Yes, it is 8:35 am. I'm on the couch with my computer, wondering where he is. He said he'd be here at 8:30. Nothing is wrong with the house, but we've now been here a year, and the builder does a "complimentary" one year "touch up" on caulking, paint, and other meaningless things.

So, rather than my normal morning routine, where I begin the day slowly and in my pajamas as I read over the work I did on Friday and begin a new paragraph or two, I am dressed and ready for Phoenix to bark when the doorbell rings.

But it hasn't yet. It is now 8:40 am.

What to blog about?

Well -- how about a "Parent-to-be" complaint. I like that we are parents-to-be. But, as we are not parents yet, I found myself uncomfortable when both C and I received mother's/father's day gifts from one well meaning family member. It is bad enough that holidays are every other week -- I find myself living in the card section of Target these days -- but to add us to the list of people who actually have had and raised children when we aren't there yet makes me a little nervous. To give us gifts for things we haven't done yet is like an advance in pay. Now we are obligated to work off the debt. Or so I feel. Maybe I'm too sensitive.

It is now 8:46 am. No doorbell.

Or, I could talk about family dynamics. We all have them. They are all f****d up. Not just mine, either. C & I visited his family recently, and his is the same. Everyone has old patterns that they fall into with parents and siblings. It is funny how hard it is to watch from outside, and to know that C has the same trouble watching me when we visit mine. It takes about two hours of our hometowns in the rearview before my sense of self and calm resurfaces. I asked C on the way home if there are people who have healthy relationships with family. He said that there must be, but that he didn't know anyone.

8:51. Now 8:58.

Man, I hate waiting.

I think that is the thing with both the parent-to-be and the family. It is all a big waiting game. NPR says the average American spends two to three years of life waiting in line. We will spend at least a year in line with CCAA in China. And really, with family, our whole lives are spent waiting...waiting to be older, waiting to have a particular conversation, or waiting to work out a long buried problem. I find myself wishing for the a flash pass for life. If we can pay more and skip the line in Six Flags, why not have that in life too? Well, I guess that wouldn't be fair.

9:05, and the doorbell rings. Yes. I can now go on with my day... oh wait. No, I have to babysit the handyman. So, where was I?

Fair. No, a life flash pass might be nice, but it wouldn't be fair. Pay extra at the DMV and finish before the teenager who can't afford the extra? mmmmm.

So, we wait. Wait in lines, wait emotionally, and wait on our couches for the drilling noises to stop (now 9:11 am). In the mean time, we write blogs and live our lives.

What are you waiting on today?