wait and see

  Saw on the news that 7-11 is going to offer a pumpkin spice Latte beginning this week. I'm no fan of that beverage at all, the thought of drinking pumpkin makes me want to gag. My granddaughter is a big fan though, as apparently many others are. I'm still wondering what a latte is personally. I understand it is just coffee and milk, that's the essence of it anyway, but what the big deal is, and why it should cost more confuses me. Black coffee and coffee with milk or cream is the same price. But whatever floats your boat as the saying goes. It caught my attention for a simple reason, how early they are going to have that available. No need to wait for the "season" it's all pumpkin latte all the time. 

  It just makes me think about how we used to wait for things in the old days. Things like our birthday or Christmas. In fact, we waited for a lot of things. In doing so we also learned a valuable lesson; the anticipation was often better than the actual thing/event. We enjoyed waiting! Yes, that was all a part of the excitement, the fun. We weren't necessarily aware of that as children, but we certainly knew that as adults. It was a tool we used to convince our children to do right. I remember hearing, your birthday is only about a month away maybe you will get that then, if you're good. Or the ever popular, maybe Santa will bring it. So, I had to wait and see. Yes, wait and see was a familiar phrase to me growing up. We'll just have to wait and see. I always suspected that Mom wasn't waiting for a thing, except for me to be quiet about it.

  Time and seasons were marked by certain events happening. The Wixard of Oz came on television once a year and you looked for that. It was an event. The new cars came out in the fall, and you saw them revealed in all their glory. Back to school supplies didn't appear until the end of August and weren't accompanied by Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas items! No, those were all stand-alone things in the stores. We had to wait for our pictures to be developed, wait for our report cards to be handed out, and wait to be dismissed. The movie matinee was on Saturday afternoon. We waited to see those movies at that time. We waited for a new record to become available in the store. But today it just seems like everything has all run together. With all this virtual stuff, the availability of everything at any time delivered right to your door, we don't wait for much anymore. In that we are losing our patience, losing our ability to just wait for it. Anticipation has been replaced with expectation, and it isn't a good thing. I was always told, expect nothing and you won't be disappointed. That's has proven to be the case. But as the years have gone by, I have learned a bit more from that lesson, anticipation is really the greatest joy. Hey, the worse thing that can happen is you get disappointed. And if you are wise, you expect that. Half-full or half-empty, same thing. Yeah, there are times when it is better just to wait. Good things come to those who wait. The only secret is learning to enjoy the wait.