Accomplish a lot while you wait!

Even with our instant news, instant photos, instant everything society, we still have to wait a lot and we don’t appreciate it. We get antsy when we have to kill time in the checkout line at the grocery store, so they created jiffy lines to speed us along. We get cranky and horny (over use of the horn) waiting for traffic to budge during commute times and we sure don’t like waiting for our computers to download, upload, reboot and defrag.

My husband’s business is all about waiting. His company creates on-hold music and messages for busy businesses that have to put customers on hold while they hook them up with the department or person the customer needs. I do the female voice on these messages and it’s fun to think I can entertain those who have to wait for whom they really want to speak with.

“Thank you for calling Flackmeiszer’s Vacuum Repair and Sales. We’re sorry to have to put you on hold, but one of the Flackmeizers will be with you in just a moment. While you wait, I’d like to tell you about our fantastic new vacuum cleaner, the Dust Bunny Buster by Electrosucks. This amazing machine is so powerful it’ll suck the grout right out of your tile floor if you’re not careful! The Dust Bunny Buster. Not recommended for families with small pets.”

Hurry up and wait...

Sunday, December 18, 2011 will go down as one of my most favorite Christmassy days ever! We are at my bonus daughter Kristi’s home for the holidays and it’s a bustle with expectant excitement in its purest form; children. As grandparents, we’ve missed this part of the season since the days our children were young. For two decades we’ve only been able to share Christmas day celebrations. There is so much more to this season than December 25. Parents of young children please don’t miss this precious week BEFORE the day of.
On Sunday morning Terry and I woke to the smell of bacon frying. Ted (my bonus son-in-law) does a ritual, Sunday morning breakfast which includes pancakes, hash brown potatoes, fresh farm eggs and the best hot coffee around. I laid in bed letting my nose sell the rest of my body on the prospect of getting out from under the cozy covers so I could take part in the breakfast celebration. My ears joined into the nudging by focusing in on the laughter and camaraderie of our grandchildren, Tanner 13, Kyle 11 and Kaytee 9.
The morning also held a massive dose of gratitude on each of our hearts. Just two days earlier, Kristi’s living room had been crowded with eight paramedics as an ambulance waited in the drive-way to rush an incoherent Tanner to the hospital. That morning he had fainted at school and Kristi brought him home, concerned he was coming down with a bug.
When he awoke from a nap and was unable to tell Terry who the quarter back for the Patriots was (even though Tanner is a devoted fan of the team) our apprehension thickened. An hour later he was at Children’s Hospital in Boston.
Terry and I were thankful we were able to be there for Kyle and Kaytee when they got off the school bus at 3:15. The children were consumed with concern for their older brother when we relayed the alarming information in the most alarmless way we could muster. That afternoon, we all went through the motions of ordinary life waiting for updates like a mother in labor waiting for her next contraction. The afternoon dawdled into evening when we were given the best news, no tumor, no meningitis and no stroke.
At 11:00 PM Tanner had been inspected inside and out and had regained his speech and cognitive abilities and was released from the hospital. The final opinion was that he suffered a complex migraine headache probably brought on by hormone changes of early adolescence. Whew!
Back to the magic of December 18. Ted and Kristi’s gift to us was a trip into Boston to attend the Holiday Music of the Boston Pops. I’d always wanted to go to Concert Hall and it was truly a dream come true. We got all dressed up as if we were prepping for a family portrait. The boys looked like clones of Justin Bieber and Katie sparkled from her blingy boots to the sparkles in her long French braided hair.
The last encore song the orchestra played was I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas. When I heard the line, “just like the ones I used to know,” tears filled my eyes remembering the happy Christmases my mom and dad created for my sister and me. What a gift we can give our children by being what this season is all about. It’s about love and joy. I’m so grateful once a year our society makes a big deal about love and joy. “May all your Christmases be light.”

Every year just a few days before Christmas I start looking for the Christmas letter written by the mouse family that lives in our house. Mrs. Cheddar (Mozzarella) is the one who writes it and I’m sure she’s a SHE because she leaves writing it to the last minute. I’m always amazed that she finds the time to write, considering how busy she is.

Well, the letter came today and as usual I love sharing it with you all (with her permission of course).

Dear Friends,

Merry Christmas from Washington State! We hope you all had a great year! As you all know by now, I hate Christmas letters because most of their authors brag about where they’ve traveled and what their kids are doing. I don’t even know half the mice I read about in those letters, but I know they scored big points to win the soccer tournament and that they got straight As.

Our cousin Mickey’s Christmas letter is the worst one every year. He’s so obnoxious. He thinks he’s such a big deal. Just because he’s rich and famous he thinks we can’t wait to read what he and his family are up to. What a bragger! I’m surprised he doesn’t attach a copy of his income tax return so we all know how much money he made. We just got his letter today (that’s what prompted me to write ours).

First of all it ticks me off that he puts his photo at the top of the letter and it’s obvious he’s had numerous face lifts. (How can you not change with time?) Anyway he and his family (he’s on his 79th wife) just “summered” in Aruba and are now on a big deal cheese tasting spree in Wisconsin. Last year they went on a Disney Cruise (on a ship he owns) and his wife got cooking lessons from that rat in Ratatouille (I think his name is Remy). Big deal. I learn all I need to know from Rachael Ray.

34 moves last year!