The Early Photographs March-December 27, 2013

These are in rough chronological order from top to bottom. They span the time from the first photo in a UCLA waiting room to the day before Jake died. After that December 28th my life changed completely and yet many of the photos document both the story of the aftermath as well as the more mundane aspects of life. The lesson is, that in spite of the most devastating event imaginable, life truly goes on.

When you begin to pay attention, you will find these transitional spaces are everywhere. We are a culture that has grown accustomed to waiting, and we have made accommodation for the waiters comfort, or in some cases discomfort, with varying degrees of luxury and amenities.

The comfort level of most waiting areas is usually proportionate to the amount of time you will wait. Usually the establishment provides chairs of varying degrees of comfort. In some cases a wooden bench or a uncomfortable stool must suffice. Sometimes you have to stand in line and there is no place to sit. Hopefully the wait won’t be too long.

It is interesting to note that those places where we expect to wait the longest, mainly doctor’s offices and hospital waiting rooms – spaces associated with medical service providers – are the most comfortable with the greatest number of amenities: water, coffee, bowls full of candy, plentiful reading material, wireless internet, televisions. The creators of these rooms know full well that you might just be there for a while. In some cases a very long while.

Whether we have a luxurious living-room atmosphere, plastic chairs on a patio, ropes and stanchions to direct us where to wait, or even a painted line on the floor, we have been well trained to acknowledge these cues and in most cases, patiently wait for our name or number to be called.