The Waiting Place - Book Review

We've all been there before - the waiting place. Some of us are still there. Whatever it is you're waiting for, chances are Eileen Button has waited for it, too, and written about it in her book The Waiting Place. As Button puts it in the introduction, this book is for "those who wake up one day and find themselves repeatedly sighing and thinking, This is so not the life I dreamed of living."

Waiting for a new job, waiting for a sick loved one to die (and what he was waiting for), waiting for a friend to make up her mind, waiting for her mother's acceptance, waiting for her children to grow up. These waiting periods and many more comprise this collection of personal stories.

The first few chapters I didn't really like. I wasn't understanding how the stories Button told fit in with the waiting theme. But a few chapters in and the stories got good. (I guess you could say I was waiting for this book to get good. Ha.) The gist of these stories is that waiting doesn't have to be such a bad place. Sure, sometimes when God closes a door, he slams it in your face (p.109) and we can never get a glimpse into our futures, which sucks. But if we look at it in a negative light, we miss some really important things. "We can wait all our lives for the next stage to come," Button writes. "Or we can choose to see the waiting place for what it often is: unexpectedly magical and holy." Yeah, it's hard for us to accept this and there will be many times that we forget this. But hopefully, we can open up this book and pick one of Button's stories and remember.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”