Drawing From the Patience Well

Patient: 1) putting up with pains or hardships calmly or without complaint 2) showing calm self-control 

I have a problem with patience. I know, I know, lots of people have a problem with patience, but mine is more serious than your average Joe. I think I may be missing the DNA molecule for patience. My lack of patience usually rears its ugly head when I'm driving. I mean, if you absolutely have to use a cell phone while you are driving then it should be mandatory to have a special rating on your driver's license. There are far too many people who shouldn't even be driving an automobile in the first place. What...are they just giving drivers' licenses away down at the DMV?? Here's an idea, put a cell phone in the hand of anyone trying to pass the driving portion of the test. If they can navigate through the orange cone confusion without a single error all while talking to their boss, mother or best friend then give them a permit; and even that should come with conditions. 

This morning my patience was tested at the Toyota dealership while I was getting my car serviced. Let me preface this by saying the Toyota people did nothing wrong. (Embarrassingly, it was all me.) In this age of technology, there are wireless Internet servers everywhere. You can flip open your laptop while taking a crap at McDonald's and be connected to the world wide web. So, for the first time ever, I took my laptop to a public place like some important corporate type, and was ready to blog from somewhere other than my home. Coolly, confidently, I sat down, opened my bag, retrieved my sleek, black IBM laptop, booted it up, waited, double clicked Internet Explorer, and got that dreaded white screen of death telling me I was not connected to the Internet. WHAT? That couldn't be! This is the 21st century. I am supposed to open my laptop turn it on and be surfing the web. Instead I spent twenty minutes patiently ordering my computer to find a wireless connection. I drew from my patience well, and tried to remain cool so that the other people in the waiting area wouldn't know what a complete inept idiot I really am. I could feel my blood pressure rising with every attempt failing to connect me to the web. I had to bite my lip to keep from cursing, and I felt flushed. What smidgen of patience I possessed was g-o-n-e. 

Now, normally in a situation like this I would hurl the laptop across the room, and then drive over it with my car as I leave the dealership. My husband will be the first to tell you how much truth there is to that statement. He has seen me trash perfectly good lamps, dust busters, remote controls, coffee makers, etc., all because my patience well had run dry. He usually rescues them from their untimely death, resurrects them and puts them to use at his office, I think. In my defense, I did try to fix the connection problem I was having with my computer, just like I tried fixing the problems with the other appliances that wouldn't bend to my will. So, if it won't bend, it usually gets broke...because I have no patience. Nothing got broken today though, so I must be getting better. I have learned with age that some things you just need to let go and not worry about. I am acutely aware that my lack of patience is a defect of character. All I can do is keep working on me. I am after all a work in progress, but then aren't we all?