Posted on January 31, 2010 - by kelly

Worth the Wait

Waiting is one of my least favorite things in all the world, and it’s no wonder, we are forced to wait for so little in our fast paced lives.  In the short span of half an hour I checked my email, twittered, and facebooked all in seconds from my phone while I grabbed lunch for my family at a fast food drive in, to come home and watch a movie that we picked out “on demand.” 

I have lived long enough to remember a time when “Internet” and “email” were crazy buzz words circulating around my college campus, and even if you wanted to check it out, you had to walk across campus and log into the computer lab.  And if you wanted to watch a movie, you had to go to the theatre, or at a minimum drive to the rental store and pick it out.  It’s frightening to think of the technological advances that my children will see in their lifetime.  Waiting will not come easy for them.  But recently I had one of those God given opportunities to teach my daughter a lesson that some things in life are indeed worth the wait. 

Emma was three or four and wanted her ears pierced.  I’m not opposed to ear piercings, I just thought she needed to be a bit older to help in the care process, so without thinking I said, “Sure, when you’re 10.”  Little did I know how difficult this would turn out to be.  Year after year went by with friend after friend getting her ears pierced.  I became the most unreasonable, mean, my only goal in life must be to ruin my daughter’s, kind of mom.  I have to confess, I almost gave in once or twice, because the reality was, it wasn’t that big of a deal, but something told me to stick to my guns.

Emma turns 10 tomorrow.  Our entire family is elated to reach this mile stone and it has been a joy to celebrate her first decade.   As she sat in the ear piercing chair, she turned to me and said, “Mom, this was worth the wait.”  This lesson was so much bigger than getting ear rings.  For me it was a lesson in parenting and follow through, for Emma, it was a lesson in patience.  There will be many more things I advise Emma to wait for in her life and I hope to use this reminder that indeed, some things are worth the wait.