Waiting Room

In the stillness of a crowd

I sat in that mix of boredom and anxiousness that only seems to set in when waiting for my name to be called at the hospital. That annual pilgrimage to ensure that nothing is up. Cancer is put off another year.

While sitting in that moment I started to look around to see who's sitting waiting with me. And a sweet couple caught my attention.
It was probably the feeling that they were so intertwined in this moment that stood out. They looked like their days were set almost in a bubble of world unique and apart from the rest of the world.

Their age added to this sense of a world they've built together. Now I have know idea of their age, I'm notoriously bad at estimating that. But seeing how they were both dressed up for this appointment, him in a pressed suit and her in the best black travel wear, they represented elders to me. They were of an age that still honors getting ready when going out.

As he reached out to her wheelchair, and nudged it up as close as possible against his chair, I was pulled into their world. The two of them settled into working on that neverending paperwork that's present in a doctor's office. She held the clipboard. He held her hand. They worked through the questions, and the time together.
In that moment, I needed to sketch them. So, I dug through my purse for whatever paper and pen I could find and tried to fall into their world. One line after another they started to appear. Marks showing how they were leaning into and supporting each other.

A few sketched lines, and then my name was called, bringing me back into the waiting room. Pop!

I motioned for just a minute. 
Looked at my sketches.
Got up the gumption.
Tore out the best one and headed over to the couple.
They looked up questioningly, why me, a complete stranger, was walking towards them. 

"Thank you for being my models today." I said as I extended the sketch to them. There was a brief pause, as I waited for their reaction. Then I gave a small smile.

They looked down...then back up. And said, 
"My."
"Oh."
"Thank you."
I nodded and turned back to the attendant waiting to lead me into my appointment.

Later, after my appointment, as I returned to waiting room the gentleman waved me over. His wife had gone in for her turn getting images of a different sort.

"We've been collecting art for years. No one has ever done something like this for us. Thank you so much. We will be framing this when we get home." And then he proceeded to tell me all the two of them were going through. How far they had traveled. And what they hoped for.

And I...I thanked him for sharing their time and togetherness with me.

Sometimes we are so much inside our own worlds that we forget to look. Or we think others don't see us. And maybe we don't. But I'd like to take time to do more watching, witnessing, recording, and sharing.

This moment sparked the beginning of a project. A weekly sketching and giving project I'm calling Waiting Room.

Where time is set aside to capture the little moments of other lives around me.