One of things I miss most about no longer having children under 14, is reading to them every night. From Eric Carle’s Very Hungry Caterpillar to Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are to Michael Scott’s Nicholas Flamel series, bedtime was always a treat for dad and the kids. Especially when we stayed up late on a school night exploring worlds almost beyond our imaginations… until Jayne busted us anyway.
A perennial favorite was Oh The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss. Aside from the psychedelic artwork and words that were super fun to say, the book just seemed to always have something for each of us, no matter how old or young, and regardless of what each of us was experiencing at the time.
One particular section has felt immensely poignant over the last year. It is the page or two that warns of a place wherein we might get stuck – The Waiting Place. This is a place for people just waiting:
Waiting for a train to go
Or a bus to come, or a plane to go
Or the mail to come, or the rain to go
Or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
Or waiting around for a Yes or No
Or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite
Or waiting for wind to fly a kite
Or waiting around for Friday night
Or waiting, perhaps, for Uncle Jake
Or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
Or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
Or a wig with curls, or Another Chance
Everyone is just waiting.
This is no place to live and Dr. Seuss says as much.
Take a moment to assess where in your life you may be waiting. Waiting for some thing, or some circumstance, or some other person to change before you will fully enjoy life; before you will allow yourself to do the things you love and love the things you do. And most especially, before you will love your people wholeheartedly.
Rather than wait, take action.
There is always something you can do to be and feel an uplift.