On Hold

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I just walked by a hot, steamy pile of trash this morning. If there is a perfect way to start a New York Monday, that’s it. On the bright side, I barely missed a pigeon dropping, right in front of me, and the train pulled right into the station, when I walked down the stairs.

New York. I have had a lot on my mind, lately. Just like this city, my mind doesn’t sleep. But this time, I have been thinking a lot about how many times we live life “on hold.”

You know, on hold, like when you are on the phone and that little music starts playing.

We think, “I won’t do X or use X until ____________” (fill in blank here; common answers include: until I move, until I get that job, until I get married, until X comes, until I have more money, until I graduate, etc.)

What is worse is some of these catalysts for action are completely out of our control and in the hands of others. You can’t control whether you will get that job, whether so-and-so will move in or out, whether he will ask you to marry him or whether she will say yes. I mean, all of that is in the hands of others.

Living your life on hold is a terrible thing, take it from someone who has fallen into that in the last couple of months. I get that some of it is circunstancial, or may come eventually (that famous phrase of “only time will tell”). But here is the thing, life doesn’t come with hold music. It’s a silent road. Putting life on hold doesn’t exist, which means we are left with nothing.

I don’t think we should live life on hold. If we do, we face perhaps never living life, at all. Those of us who are amenable and always trying to be orderly and not asking for too much sometimes fall in this rut of loss of control. And while there are many things in life we do not and should not control, there are still small elements of our lives within that, that we can control.

“I don’t think we should live life on hold. If we do, we face perhaps never living life, at all.”

So, use that blender, decorate that apartment, go on that trip, apply to other jobs, and don’t forget to walk around your block and enjoy the present day within the seasons of waiting.

Your sentence needs to be whole and complete; no blanks. There may be clauses coming, but we all know that clauses are set off by commas, as they enhance the sentence.

Make sure that what you are waiting for is an enhancement and not half of the actual sentence, without which the sentence won’t make sense one bit.

Life was not meant to be lived on hold. That’s why, in these periods of waiting, there is no music.

Yesterday, I decided to buy that produce and make that meal. At first, there was a list of reasons why I didn’t want to make the meal, but I realized none of them were good enough. None of them had music. The essentials of the sentence were there, and that was all that mattered. It was delicious.