You. Yes, you over there.  The one with the vein popping out of your forehead and the swollen temples.  Why so serious?  The baby won’t be here for another three months.  You’ve done everything you can to prepare, so why the short temper and the long face? Say what? Your patience is being tested?  Really?

I am going to go out on a limb and confess that every so often during our pregnancy, I get painted into a corner where I feel my patience is being tested and worn thin.

In a conversation with a friend today I was recounting a recent back and forth between my wife and I about a stressful situation and I felt that overall I handled it pretty well considering.  I was calm.  I was focused and I was direct in how to solve the problem.  The one thing I probably wasn’t was being was patient.

According to the dictionary, to be patient means to exhibit the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like. By definition, I was a shining example of patience — but only by definition.

During our conversation, my friend raised a valid point which is, “am I really being patient or am I being impatient?”  You can still be calm, waiting or allowing for some event to continue to take place, but it is with a different attitude or demeanor.

So, it is possible that I looked and sounded like I was being patient –the reality was that I was more likely impatient, which is to say on the outside I was very much looking and sounding patient, but behind the scenes I simply wanted the situation to be over with.

Even as an expectant father I know my patience will truly be tested and I will have to be on-point in how I handle each situation.  Both where it relates to our newborn son as well as my relationship with my wife.  The question is, how do you show you are really being patient as opposed to just waiting for the tide to go back out (especially when on the outside patience and impatience can appear to others as exactly the same thing)?  Marinate.

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Clarence Smith, Jr. draws inspiration from Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Greene, Hemingway, Ernest Shackleton and Muhammad Ali. His passions include comics, riding fixed-gear, documentaries and limited edition sneakers. He writes and tells stories, some of which appear at DoYouKnowClarence.com. He lives with his wife, affectionately known as 'Planet Wifey', in New England.