Smug in my evolution towards patience, I come to an abrupt stop. Cars in lines. Confused feet itching to release the break, to push down and go. How far I have come, from my worry of time. The stress of being late. Of being in a hurry. With nowhere to go over these past months I am free of the compulsion to rush.  

Next to me I see snakes moving at the same slow pace. Despite their slithering image they are held hostage to advertisement form on the side of a truck. More waiting and I’m starting to feel aware of the stagnant nature of my lane. The snakes have crept slowly forward while I have been pondering my patience. The wheels beneath me still motionless. 

Another glance out my window and that familiar smile of instant gratification in the form of two-day delivery. The smile that arrives on packages regularly in our home. The smile that challenges how patient I really am. The smile that is more famous than it’s owner, Jeff Bezos’ actual smiIe. I think- the snakes got away but not you. 

So I focus all my thoughts on staying ahead of a truck in a race where no one is moving, least of all me. But Jeff Bezos always wins and I am left wondering if I will ever move again. Four lanes merge to three and then two and I watch my exit-ramp approach, blocked off and refusing to offer me relief. Miles until the next exit. Minutes wasted. 

Patience relents to entitlement. My right foot receives the message to go and I leave the snakes and Jeff Bezos. I am making my own destiny. I escape, triumphantly finding a hole in the barricaded exit-ramp and feel the instant relief of freedom. My smugness about my patience being displaced by the victory of my defiance. Perhaps I am not quite healed yet, I think as I hurry to make up the time that was lost in the waiting.