Waiting is something we all do; often we have to wait too much or too long. Sometimes it seems we wait for just about everything. We waited when we went to Sydney last weekend for a family function. A birthday.

Our trip into town to visit an art gallery involved a decent amount of waiting, beginning at the station where we caught the train. There weren’t many people at the station, but those who were there were also waiting.

Unfortunately, our trip was not the joyous event we were expecting. Our hosts were also waiting; waiting for an improvement in the health of a relative who was in hospital after suffering an apparent heart attack.

How we wait depends on many factors: the cause of the wait, what the waiting keeps us from, what’s around to fill our wait, how we view waiting, what’s worrying us at the time and so on. On the positive side, waiting can provide an opportunity to reflect, to catch up on reading, to… whatever. Today, our waiting is often mediated by technology.

Eventually though our waiting is done and we resume our quest for whatever it was that the waiting delayed. We catch the train, we get to the front of the ticket queue, the guide for the tour arrives, we order our meal…

For our hosts, the outcome of the waiting came too soon: death of the relative. No longer were we waiting for the birthday party to begin (there would be no party). We were now waiting for an opportunity to leave so that our hosts could begin their grieving.

What began for us as a journey of joy, with expectant waiting, became a reminder of the uncertainty of life and the indetermination of waiting. We were reminded that although we know death, like a train, will eventually arrive out of the shadows of the future how we await its arrival is what really matters.

Enjoy the wait.