Instant Gratification

I nearly cheated.  I came so close.  I had to take Hailey to ballet and attend a long church meeting, and I was hungry.  Specifically, I wanted vegetables.  More specifically, wonton soup.  Not exactly period-correct.  I actually walked into the restaurant and sat down.  I felt guilty.  "But who am I cheating?" my hungry self argued. 

The project.  Myself.  If I don't really try to stay in the 19th century, I'm cheating myself of the opportunity to learn about life in earlier times.  "To learn what, exactly?" my hungry self wimpered, as I hauled it back to the car, unfulfilled.

To learn the value of patience.  We live in the era of instant gratification.  Want to buy something or learn something?  Google it.  Want to talk to someone?  Call their cellphone.  Don't want to talk to them?  Instant message.  Never mind relationships; now you can hook up and text a goodbye.  Hungry?  Fast food abounds.  Even tearing open three levels of packaging and punching the buttons of a microwave seem glacially slow to us.

What is the value of patience?  I'm not sure exactly, though I've spent my whole life trying (not very successfully) to learn it, because my mom always said I needed to.  My mom was a very smart lady, so I'm sure she must have had a reason, probably something to do with selflessness.  My mom was all about selflessness.

In thinking through the value of patience, I came across this article:
http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/spiritualformation/virtueofpatience.html
It defines patience as "enduring discomfort without complaint."  Having spent years railing against whining in my children, I certainly see the virtue there!  In fact, we were just discussing the other day how whining and complaining are selfish.  They inflict discomfort on everyone in earshot, while providing no real return for the whiner.  Impatience in general is selfish, because it usually involves us wanting someone else to do (or not do) something for us.

But the patience I'm thinking of today isn't really about whining.  It's about wanting something right now.  Why is that wrong?  Or more to the point, why is exercising patience a virtue?  Because being patient requires exercising self-control, and putting someone else's needs before your own.  I knew selflessness had to be at the bottom of this!  Moms are always right.  I was wondering today what my mom would have thought of this project.  She wasn't much into old-fashioned things, but I think she'd certainly approve of this as an exercise in learning patience!

So what, you ask, does this have to do with boots and corsets?  Everything, and I mean everything, takes sooooo long.

Getting dressed:  drawers, chemise, stockings, boots, corset (laced and hooked!), hoop skirt, petticoat/s (tied somewhere else than the hoop to avoid a bulge), bodice, skirt, apron with two pins, handkerchief.

Hair: Forget about a quick ponytail.  Instead, I need a Y-shaped part, a bun in the back with lots of pins and a hairnet to hold it in place, and something even moderately attractive for the bangs and loose bits in front.   And if your hair is wildly curly like mine, only overnight rag curls or lots of pomade will cure it - no blow drier! 

Meals: Split kindling, lay a fire from paper, kindling and logs, but carefully so as not to smother the first feeble attempts at flame.  Then light it and wait patiently for actual heat to appear and work its way through the metal stove and the iron pot and into the food.  Microwaves go straight to the food.  I never really appreciated that before!

Washing dishes: Haul water from the pump.  Light the stove and wait for the water to heat.  Fill a sink with sudsy water.  Wash.  By hand.  Every dish.

And so on.  Nothing is easy.  Nothing is instant.  Everything requires patience.  Goodbye instant gratification, hello antici....patience.

Autumn