It’s been a summer of high humidity and slow and easy traffic around the neighborhood.  New families have moved in along my walking route and it became obvious yesterday and today that they made the choice to live in this ‘hood’ because the schools are so good.  It has been a like a Rockwell painting these past two mornings; the cutest little kids anticipating the big yellow school bus with Mom and Dad and the dog all waiting to wish the little people a good day at school.  The drama, the tears, the smiles and the book bags that are twice the size of these kids, weighing them down as they take their first steps onto the bus.  The anticipation of what’s to come.

The passage of time.  Another school year begins.

There’s another house on the bus route.  The kids who were raised there are grown up now.  They are married and live a few miles away.  Their Mom is still living in that house and she’s been anticipating a new beginning too.  Living with cancer is her new normal.  It’s the anticipation of her biopsy that weighs on her mind these days. Her doctors tell her she should get the results in a few days.  What does that mean?  Two days is a few days in my book, but odds are she won’t hear anything for at least a week.

Once again, it’s the waiting that makes this so difficult.  Knowing is better than not knowing.  You can make a plan, when you know what you’ve got to deal with.

The anticipation is the worst.