Waiting

That seems to be the underlying theme right now.

As I look out the window here at my office, the sky is is a greyish-green sort of matte color. Although I haven't checked the weather today, I bet we're going to be getting some weather. I'd be ok with that. We need snow; it hasn't been a real winter here in the Cascade foothills. But still, we keep seeing signs of weather. And waiting. And 'the big one' never materializes.

At least not like it has done the past week near Washington, D.C., where my parents live. Mom and Dad are home-bound right now. Dad, in part, because of his knee surgery last week. But the 2+ feet of snow they've gotten since last Friday keeps them off the roads. Mom is going stir-crazy. And poor Charlie the dog doesn't have too many places to walk right now. They are waiting for sunny days to melt the snow. Or the neighbor to get home and use his tractor to plow out the road (since neither Mom nor Dad are up to it at the moment). So they are waiting too.

I'm waiting to get feedback on the NPS ranger jobs I've applied for this summer.

We got some so-so news yesterday here at Rainier. The Sunrise staff this year is being cut by one position because of funding. So they will have 3 actual staff this summer to run a visitor center & program operation. Can you bet that the district ranger is praying for a miracle? A miracle in the form of full-time experienced volunteers. That location really needs a staff of 5-6 people full-time. We are hoping for a grant to come through - but waiting on that. Ohana will have 5 staff, including the district ranger (her permanent office is there).

And my medical bills from the surgery in November (was that really 3 months ago today?!) are still not entirely sorted out with the insurance company. Part of this is finalized, but part isn't. I'll be glad to get that behind me too.

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So what is it about waiting that is so hard? Is it the unknown? Is the inability to prepare? Is it the confusion and loose ends?

Like any good knitted item I make, I like to weave in all of my loose ends seemlessly. I even take the time on nearly every piece to weave in all of the ends using duplicate stitch, so you can't even tell where my ends were.

I like the details to be taken care of, dealt with in a reasonably timely manner, all loose ends cleaned up and packed away out of sight. I feel better when I have things taken care of.

Which is not where I'm at right now. My apartment is always a wreck, but everything that has to get done, does get done. And sometimes ahead of schedule. I really like being ahead of the curve whenever possible. And that's not possible right now.

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Speaking of which, I better cut this off for now and get up to Longmire to pick up our supplies. If a storm comes in, I want to have everything unloaded back here at our office already so nothing gets wet.

Good luck dealing with your loose ends today, whatever they might be!!!