I'm waiting. 

I'm usually not. I'm usually rushing all helter-skelter toward whatever place I was supposed to be five minutes ago, and arriving there well after the time I was supposed to be there. That harshes my mellow considerably. 

A long time ago, I once waited for an eternity for the people I was supposed to meet. I sat in my car and watched my wristwatch. It was long before the time of cell phones, so I couldn't call and blast them for being late. Which was probably good in hindsight. 

By the time my party arrived, I was in a state. Biting mad because about my time being wasted while I could have done two or three errands. Which actually makes me perturbed all over again, which harshes my mellow, which is not the point.

The friend I was meeting that day apologized profusely for being late, but I wouldn't let it go. I ranted. I raved. I demanded groveling, or some form of adequate compensation. 

"Don't you keep a book in your car to read when you have to wait?" my friend finally asked.

Apparently she was no stranger to waiting either, and didn't assume her days would play out like clock work. The funny thing is, that was one of the few times I've even had to wait. I'm usually the late one. 

I grew up in a family that runs late. All of us. My mother was so late to her own wedding my father wondered if she'd had second thoughts. And I was so late to mine my sister wondered the same. (I was having my hair done and there were no cell phones.) 

But being late stresses me out. It makes my blood pressure go up and my face splotch. It gets me out of sorts for no good reason. 

It's taken me a while, a decade or so, but I've finally decided I don't want to be late anymore. I've prepared myself. I try my best to be on time, and if others are late, I try not to let it worry me at all. I don't even look at my watch. I just pull out the novel I never have time to read, or pick up trash out of my car (always an option) or try to learn how to operate my new cell phone.

So in theory, not only am I at my destination feeling calm and collected and on time, but I get so much done as I wait I wish my companions ran a little later.  

(Ferris Robinson can be contacted at ferrisrobinson@gmail.com)