Pack Your Patience

It is a phrase I have heard repeatedly over the past few days. "Pack your patience." (Or, I assume thatis what I am hearing. I guess that they could be talking only to doctors and it could be "pack your patients...") Whichever it is, it is a message I will be heading today.

I am headed back to the UK this afternoon and will be certain to take a butt-load of patience (or patients) with me. I plan on being at the airport at least three hours before my international flight. I have a good book that I am reading and it will keep me entertained until I have situated myself comfortably on the plane headed into Gatwick.

If I need a moment of serenity, I will cast my mind back to last night as I was driving with my sister. We were nearing the end of the Alligator Alley (Interstate 95 through the Big Cypress Swamp) when the storm that had been brewing and rumbling to the east all evening finally let loose with a fury. Anyone who has never seen a serious thunderstorm over the Everglades cannot appreciate the impressive sight. With the expanses of sawgrass in all directions, the hammocks of cypress, mangrove, and royal palmetto, and the brilliant flashes of lightening giving a strobe affect to the scene, it can be really impressive.

I love storms anyway (I have since I was a kid) and this one was the first one that I have seen in my native land for many years. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it as we drove. It was almost enough to make me want to move back to Florida. Then I remembered the heat, the humidity, the palmetto bugs and the Republican governor. (...though with the family he is from, I am not all that certain that Jeb Bush isn’t a bug of some kind...)

Nope, it is not worth it to live in Florida. It’s a nice place to visit...

I guess I had best get myself packed and ready to go. I have a plane to catch and a number of things to do before that time! It is a lovely morning, but it is growing old.

I hope that wherever you are today, patience is a commodity that you have plenty of!

Don Bergquist - 14 August 2006 - Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA