What are you waiting for?
Don’t let the time pass you by…
Tick, tick, tock.
Waiting for the News
Patiently, I wait in the waiting room, observing the others who are waiting. What are they waiting for? They need to stop waiting and start living!
Women, younger than myself, surround me. Each eagerly wait for what is to come. Most of the women are at a different stage of pregnancy while others have already advanced into motherhood. They are waiting for the news.
Waiting with Anticipation
A few young women sit with no visible signs of pregnancy. Are they waiting for their yearly exam and taking preventative health measures with the hope of starting a family? But still waiting to meet Mr. Right? The man who will father their children. Where is he? How will she know who he is? How will she know if he will make a good husband and father? She waits for him. Tick, tick, tock.
Another young pregnant woman waits by herself. Is she going at it alone, like many women do today? Maybe she was waiting for Mr. Right and he never came along. Does she know how difficult it is to raise a child and how having a husband makes parenthood so much easier?
An older couple wait together, desperately wanting a child, waiting for just the right time. She needed to stop waiting and start living years ago. Her biological clock ticks. Tick, tick, tock. Until she waits too long and the window of motherhood slams shut.
Waiting for the Good News
Maybe the older lady is waiting for good news, the confirmation of a pregnancy. She prays she won’t get her period. She and her husband eagerly await this pregnancy. Is her older body healthy enough to carry a baby to term? Maybe her body struggles and she miscarried in the past. She prays this time their baby is viable.
Twenty-two reasons to have children earlier than later… https://www.popsugar.com/family/Benefits-Having-Kids-Young-38510235#:~:text=Your%20kids%20are%20very%20likely,to%20run%20into%20fertility%20issues.
Waiting for the Bad News
Or maybe it’s an agonizing wait, the young woman hoping to get her period. Not getting her period left her questioning, “Am I pregnant?” She is seeking confirmation that the pregnancy test she took isn’t reliable. She appears frightened and alone, too scared to ask for help. Maybe she was out one night with her friends, drinking alcohol, left with no memory. Who is that man she was with? If she finds out that she is pregnant what will she do?
I feel so bad for this young woman. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to have an unplanned pregnancy. We should not judge the women who turn to abortion out of fear. They have to live with their choice. Do they know what it’s like to not be able to conceive? How many women would love to parent her child? I thank God my pregnancies were both planned and I didn’t have to consider any other option.
Waiting with Others
A couple of girlfriends sit together, happily waiting. Maybe the pregnant girl’s husband couldn’t be present for her appointment so her friend stepped in. Women should support one another, each having compassion for what the other woman has been through. Maybe these women offer each other companionship and plan on raising the child together. Hopefully the baby will have a strong male role model in their life.
A young man sits proudly by a young mother’s side. She holds the baby. Is he the father of her baby? How would he know? Does he know what it takes to father a child? It’s a life-long commitment. Will he wait up late into the night for his daughter to come home? Watching the clock, waiting. Tick, tick, tock.
Waiting with Family
Not many men are present in the waiting room. Parenthood takes two. The father is equally important. I watch another man, a black man, follow a pregnant white woman close behind. I do not see their wedding bands. He is a man stepping up as a father. Together the couple created the most beautiful baby. All children, each race and ethnicity, all combinations are God’s gift.
A woman slightly older than myself waits close by. She is a grandmother rocking a baby carrier. Is she there to help carry the load? A mother’s job is never done. It just evolves.
A plain couple sit snuggled close together, the father cradling the baby. The most beautiful sight. A young couple growing a family. The start of a large family.
Waiting for Motherhood to Pass Us By
All of these women, the years of motherhood stretch out ahead of them. They wear their innocence, not knowing what their future has in store. They wait for each milestone and wait with anxiety for the bad news. Waiting for their children to grow into adulthood. Tick, tick, tock.
I sit, being present in the waiting room of the OBGYN, reflecting on motherhood. I waited for well over two years for my exam. During that time I patiently have been waiting for my body to transition into menopause. Embracing my new spiritually fit body.
I make it to the exam room. The female doctor, nurse and I all relate to one another. We are mothers of grown children. Following a thorough exam the doctor compliments my body and health. She says, “Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. You’re doing it right.”
What is it that I am doing that contributes to my overall good health?
At fifty I stopped waiting and started living.
This weeks blog, Stop Waiting, Start Living I wrote while waiting in the waiting room of my OBGYN. The women and men who also we’re waiting were my inspiration. Prior to fifty I was spiritually dead, I was lost and once I found myself it was time to start living my life.
Waiting is very difficult for me. By nature I am an inpatient person. To be a blogger and to build a platform takes time. When I do not see the results I hope for I need to remind myself to be patient and to trust in God in His time. My advice to the others who are waiting is to stop the wait; seek out your passion and start enjoying life; be present and start living.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9 NIV
To read more on motherhood… https://grow-together.blog/2022/09/15/lets-grow-together-being-a-mother-to-my-daughters/
4 responses to “Stop Waiting, Start Living”
Beautiful words from a beautiful friend.
Thank you Susan. I especially like living life with my friends!
“Waiting is very difficult for me. By nature I am an inpatient person. To be a blogger and to build a platform takes time. When I do not see the results I hope for I need to remind myself to be patient and to trust in God in His time. My advice to the others who are waiting is to stop the wait; seek out your passion and start enjoying life; be present and start living.
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
Galatians 6:9 NIV”
So great and true! Keep going, Karen! 🙂
Thank you for the much needed encouragement 😘