Patience...........

Me at the San Diego Zoo.  Obviously, we weren't seeing the animals fast enough and I was getting impatient.

is NOT one of my virtues.

I am an impatient person by nature, just ask my mom.  She'll tell you all about my birth and how I couldn't even wait for the doctor to arrive before I made my grand entrance into this world.  It was the year of 1979 and I was my mom's 7th and final baby.  I was going to be the first birth that my dad was going to be able to see but I couldn't even wait for him.  The nurse was rushing around trying to get everything ready when my mom shouted, "Someone better catch my baby!".  When the nurse turned around, there I was.  She ran over and finished delivering me as the doctor and my dad came running into the room.

My husband would probably have quite a bit to say about my patience, or lack thereof.  When we were first married he used to sing the song Patience, by Guns N'Roses, to me.  We've had plenty of arguments over his timetable vs. my timetable.  When I ask him to take out the trash, or some other chore, I get frustrated when he doesn't do it right away, and he gets frustrated that I have to have it done the second I ask.  He doesn't understand why I can't wait a few minutes for him to do it, and I don't understand why he can't do it right when I ask.  It's a bad cycle.  Sure, I could be more patient, but would it kill him to do something right when I ask him to do it?  You see?  Like I said, a bad cycle.

When I get an idea in my head of something that needs to be done, or a project that I want to do I feel a sense of urgency, a desire to get it done RIGHT NOW.  An example of this impatient nature is my headboard project.  I decided that I wanted to get all the materials and complete the headboard last weekend.  So I spent an hour at JoAnns, 30 minutes waiting for my material to be cut another 30 minutes to check-out.  Dave came with me because I told him it would be fun to run errands together.  Well, if your husband is anything like mine, an hour at JoAnns with the Beast isn't exactly his idea of fun.  So, even though I still needed to get the foam, batting, and wood we headed home to pick up the other kids and put the Beast down for a nap.  I still wasn't feeling very good on Saturday, but that didn't stop me.  Like I said, I had it in my head that I needed to make the headboard, so I went out again that night and got the wood, the foam, and the batting.


When I got home that night I was going to make the headboard, but Dave wasn't feeling well and honestly neither was I.  I didn't do it on Sunday either so by Monday I was getting antsy.  Monday evening after dinner I started working on the headboard.  The wood was slightly bent when I started.  Dave asked me if I was worried about it, but being my impatient self I brushed him off and told him it would be fine.  I just wanted to get it done.  After I had put the foam on the wood, I started wrapping and stapling the batting and material to the wood.  I was just cruising along thinking everything was going great until Dave helped me lift up the headboard to check my progress.  The material was too loose.  I thought I just needed to pull it tighter, but Dave pointed out that it probably wouldn't help because of the bend in the wood.  We tried weighing it down over night, but that didn't help.  The next morning the material was still too loose.  I had to take it all apart and start all over again.  (I'll give you all the details in my Saturday Project post.) 

If I had been more patient and listened to Dave I would have saved myself time and frustration, but I just couldn't do it!  I wanted it done NOW!  Ugh!  I really don't like that I have no patience.  It's something that I've been working on for years now.  It is probably something I will always struggle with.  But, let me tell you I've got some of the best teachers and their names are the Beast, Princess, and Cy.  If anyone can teach me patience these three can, and trust me they work on teaching me every day!

You can read about another example of my impatience here.