The Waiting Place

The Waiting Place

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race

Down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…

For people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go

Or the mail to come, or the rain to go

Or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow

Or waiting around for a Yes or No

Or waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite

Or waiting for wind to fly a kite

Or waiting around for Friday night

Or waiting, perhaps for their Uncle Jake

Or a pot to boil, or a Better Break

Or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants

Or a wig with curls, or Another Chance

Everyone is just waiting.

NO!

That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying.

You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high!

Ready for anything under the sky.

Ready because you’re that kind of guy!

                                                                          -“Oh, the Places You’ll Go”

                                                                                   -Dr. Seuss

     

I owe so much to works of literature. I have always been inspired and elicited to read; to open my eyes and see the world through books. Some people label it as a hobby, some as mandatory but for me it is not only a compulsion but a necessity to me as a woman, as a person, as a student of the world. I am 25 years old and I can proudly say that one of my favorite authors is Dr. Seuss. Still to this day I am entertained and inspired by his work. My late Uncle Ted contributed to my literacy history. He gave me the entire collection of Dr. Seuss when I was 3 years old. He would always send poems and passages in the mail—surprising me and making me feel so worthy and valuable—through our shared passion for reading and words.

The aforementioned selection is a passage from “Oh, the Places You’ll Go”. I got plentiful gifts for my 2005 high school graduation—money, cards, clothes, etc but not one seemed to touch and stick with me then this book given by my Uncle Ted. One would normally scoff at such present but I could have not been more grateful or appreciative. I carried this book with me through my whole college career, always referring back to it when everything in my life was noisy and disheartening. The colors, the humor, the kooky advice always eased the demanding expectations and filtered assumptions surrounding my life

I got validation of just how golden these words were when I heard this in a speech given during my college graduation. I giggled with tears of joy as humbleness seemed to engulf me. I felt like the only person in that stadium listening to the speech because I knew that my love for Dr. Seuss and the investment that my Uncle put into me was not in vain. Two months later, my Uncle unexpectedly passed away but my heart was swollen with thanks because I knew that graduation moment was a moment meant for only him and I to have and only we would understand.

Xoxo,

@BMynroe

(RaChelle-Denise McKinney)