Waiting

I've already written once about what "waiting" means here in the bush. Recap: to go to the city to wait for the baby to come.

And a funny update on that: One of Amy's 5 year olds told their mother, in regards to their new baby: "Maybe you should take that baby back to Anchorage."  Ahh, sibling rivalry.

But today's post is about the other kind of waiting. The kind that most of us do on a daily basis in a myriad of ways. Specifically, it's about the difference between waiting up here, and waiting over the summer.

Things you wait for, that I don't:

-The car to warm up
-The light to turn green
-Right of way
-Stalled trafic

-Lines at the grocery store
-Lines at the bank
-Lines at the laundromat

-Waiters, plumbers, road crew, tellers, cashiers, etc.

However, there are a couple things I have to wait for. Things that take considerably longer than most of the things you wait for. For example:

-Mail Order Groceries
-Mail Order Clothes
-Mail Order movies, video games, toiletries, Christmas presents, books, and fruit.

On the positive side of that, it's not like I'm actually sitting at the post office that whole time, waiting for my new clothes to come in.

-The dentist to come to town
-Airplanes - but I maintain that my waiting around for three hours wringing my hands to see if the plane is going to make it is far superior to your daily commutes.


I leave Shishmaref in a week, and all of my non-waiting will go away, and I'll join you all at the drive through. I'll be the one in the white pickup truck, with an exasperated expression on my face.