waiting rooms

Waiting room views.

I started noticing waiting rooms when I was 16 and going to therapy for the first time. I sat in the solitary chair between the end table and the secretary's desk, as though it was added as an afterthought. People would file in and out and I started to notice the little things. Like how the pamphlets on the table next to me were coated in dust and the secretary always put the phone on hold for approximately 30 seconds before transferring the call to whoever the person on the other end wanted to speak to. The people mostly looked tired. And I'm sure I was no exception to that. 

People in waiting rooms are sort of a community. They are passing time, sitting in a group of people who have been brought together by a single purpose: to get on with whatever appointment or errand they have to run and get on with their lives. But in the waiting room, we all have to sit. And breathe. And maybe make idle small talk with the person next to you. You have to participate in the community you don't even know you're a part of. That's why I love waiting rooms: the community. The feeling of looking over at someone and feeling a sense of "me too."