Impatience 30

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I wonder if the impatient tapping of fingers, angry chatter on cellphones, harumphs and other sighs, exasperated looks, pacing back and forth through the corridors, exasperated conversations with companions or strangers would change if we knew that the plane we were pushing to take-off despite lousy weather was in fact going to crash. 

I have these sorts of thoughts whenever I find myself stuck in an airport.  I have changed seats several times during the two-hour delay despite there being very few empty ones, because every time I sit next to someone, they pull out a cellphone and start chattering about inane topics in annoying voices.  I offer up another entreaty to God that cellphones are never allowed during flights.  I feel ashamed praying for something so insignificant but I’m only human and I guess I’m allowed a frivolous prayer every now and then. 

I don’t know anyone who is at the airport who doesn’t want to get to their destination quick, fast and in-a-hurry.  We all have important reasons for flying through the air.  A lot of us are super-important people (if only in our own minds.)  Only a few of us are able to just lay back and enjoy the delay especially when there is a solid reason for it, i.e., stormy weather in which it is dangerous to fly.

Thankfully, my trip from Boston to Charlotte arrived safely. The ride was a fairly smooth ride and Jet Blue provides 36 channels of TV and numerous XM radio stations to make the time go by quickly. (I almost said “fly by” but I thought that would be a little lame.) I was a bit unnerved by the length of the de-icing treatment the plane underwent.  But we arrived safely and soundly and that was the point until it took forever for our luggage to arrive.  We were switched from one baggage carousel to another.  Two bags made it out and then everything stopped.  One of the airport workers climbed out of the portal, unstuck a piece of luggage, three more pieces came out and then nothing and no personnel to whom to complain for twenty long minutes.  I thought there was going to be a mutiny.  I marveled at how quickly some of my fellow passengers had forgotten to delight in the fact that we had arrived safely.  For many of us our journey was just about over. 

At the end of a journey, one doesn’t want to have to “hurry up and wait.”  I find myself thinking, how many more times and in how many more ways can the slender young girl explain that she’s still waiting for luggage?  Then all of a sudden, the carousel starts and all the luggage comes out and we all start our holiday season, happy if tired and bedraggled.

I am pleased that because of the delay, I am well into the latest blockbuster of a book I’m reading – What is the What by David Eggers.  The story is painful and humorous, humble and fierce.  It is a fictionalized novel of the life of one of the “Lost Boys” of the Sudan.  David Eggers is a phenomenal writer and this story is uplifting and profound.  Having gotten nearly half-way through it in one day – I know that I will get to the next books awaiting my eyes – Rule the Web and the new one by Edwidge Dandicat.

Good books to read – the best gifts for a readaholic like me.  Getting to see my 10-month old granddaughter and loving her and my daughter up.  Christmas is starting out well for me.  And I hope it is well for you, dear readers.

About Candelaria Silva

Candelaria Silva-Collins is a marketing, community outreach and programming consultant; writer; and trainer/facilitator who lives in Boston, Massachusetts. She has designed and facilitated workshops on a wide variety of topics including communication, facilitation, job search skills, team building, and parenting issues. She currently coordinates the Community Membership Program of the Huntington Theatre Company. Her work as Director of ACT Roxbury was profiled in several publications, including The Creative Communities Builders Handbook. Candelaria’s children’s stories, short stories, essays and reviews have been published in local and national publications and she is an active blogger. Her publications include the booklets, Handling Rejection; Pushing through Shyness: Networking Tips when You’re Shy, Slow to Warm Up or Just don’t Feel you Belong; and Real Questions about Sex & Relationships for Teens: A Discussion Guide for Parents. She has served on the boards of Goddard College, Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston Foundation for Architecture, and Discover Roxbury. She is currently Chair, Designators of the Henderson Foundation.

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