Experiencing Delays

Rose delighted with a Xmas gift way back when! She may have to make do with the memory!

I don’t know about you, but my patience is wearing thin, in general (not that I ever had all that much to begin with). All around me are delays: ridiculous phone call hold times, letters and cards coming days or even weeks behind schedule, and now it’s the supply chain! I had honestly not given a ton of thought to HOW my Amazon purchases arrived at my door (I had a Santa-like fantasy image of UPS drivers in brown delivery sleighs, circumnavigating the globe overnight). Now I come to realize that MUCH of my stuff is on container ships, that are not being unloaded quickly. That stalled cargo may well include the few Christmas gifts I have ordered as of now. I’m afraid to order more because I don’t want to see the dreaded “estimated delivery date: January 9-February 15” on my computer screen. I haven’t gone holiday shopping in a physical store in years, so that option is off the table (Julie is my personal shopper, and I’m afraid she won’t have much luck this Yuletide either). I’m preparing myself for a festive Christmas morning of shaking gift cards out of envelopes, which is OK for the grownups I guess, but maybe less than thrilling for Aiden and Peter (“Starbucks! Nana, you shouldn’t have!”)

Evan is heading home for Christmas, and I know booking his flight was difficult (he couldn’t even get the same airport to fly in and out of from Seattle). I’d be shocked if he landed anywhere close to on time, and I just hope he doesn’t get in the middle of a fracas between an unhinged traveler and a flight attendant (those seem to be happening with such frequency that they could be filmed and people could watch like a prizefight on pay-per-view). 

What is the matter with everybody? Me included? I’d say we weren’t like this (horrible) in the past, however, I know humans have always tended to be stinkers. But nowadays, we behave like spoiled toddlers (“Me want it!!! Waaaaah!!!”) the second we don’t get our way. Intellectually I realize that we’re all super-reactive because of the pandemic, at least in part. Emotionally, though, all I want to do is run away and join an ashram. Spending my days meditating and eating bowls of rice sounds so restful!

One thing that is helping me is having a sense of humor. I recently joined a small humor writing cohort online, and it’s been a hoot. Every week we each come up with five funny pitches, vote on each other’s ideas, then write comedy pieces based on the winner. In addition to giving me lots of new material to (hopefully) place somewhere, it’s just such a great opportunity to laugh at life (in fact, one of my comedy buddies is writing a piece called “The Real Man’s Guide to Fixing the Supply Chain”). 

So as we plunge into the zany holidays, may we all take a deep breath, laugh heartily, and chill out a little.