Peace, Calmness and Waiting For the World to Hurry the Fuck Up!

It seemed like I spent all day yesterday waiting. I kept moving and doing things, but all the while, I was waiting for someone else, something else.

Yesterday my brother's heart surgery was supposed to start at 8 a.m. The wait until 2 p.m. when I got the call that Golden Boy's surgery was over and he was okay took forever. Sure, I kept busy at work, but still. Six hours is six hours. It's a long time when you're waiting to hear that someone got through surgery.

On my lunch hour, I rushed home to finish packing for my weekend trip to LA (hi from LA!). When I got back to work, Tunafish was nowhere to be found. By 3 p.m. he had still not shown up. His wife called four times. The Cowboy was in a bad mood and looking for him. I needed his input before I could work on a project. Waiting. Tuna strolled in apologizing for having forgotten to take his cell phone.

From work, I went directly to the airport. Friday night, from SF to LA, at the start of a three-day weekend, raining in both cities. You bet your ass my flight was delayed. By over two hours. That's okay, I can wait. Eh, not so much. I was supposed to land at LAX and take a cab directly to the hospital my brother is staying at. Because I wouldn't have gotten to the hospital until after 11 p.m., I decided I'd go to my brother's house instead.

I was in a taxi within ten minutes of landing at LAX. The cabbie crossed himself three times and mumbled in Russian. It took us over a half hour to get out of the airport. I thought the cab driver was going to go ...cabbal? Is there a word for "postal" for cab drivers? Throughout the entire trip, he cursed and mumbled in Russian. At one point he seemed so upset that I actually considered getting out and finding a different, more sane, cab driver. Then I realized something. This cab driver drove through a red light, almost crashed into a bus, a telephone pole, and an SUV. He cursed at people, shook his fist at them, and told me "all these people? No good drivers!" Really, it was like being in a New York taxi, and nothing's better than feeling a little New York when you're far from home. I relaxed, and waited.

Eventually I got to downtown LA, and found my brother's apartment. Where I was greeted by his dog. Who was everything a dog is supposed to be. Happy to see me.

If you're not a dog person, you just won't understand this. I grew up with a dog. I miss having a dog (no, I can't get one now) more than words can describe. I am beyond jealous that my brother and his girlfriend have a dog. Luckily, their dog loves me. I think she knows Golden Boy and I are related. Although she doesn't gaze adoringly at me like she does at Golden Boy, she gazes out contently when I'm petting her. Within five minutes of arriving, I was sitting on the couch with a dog in my lap. It was, for me, the perfect way to relax at the end of a stressful day.

And now? I've been up since 6:48 a.m. I'm dressed, and waiting for Crazy Girl to wake up so we can go to the hospital. Even the dog is still sleeping.

That's okay. I'll just wait. I've had a lot of practice lately.