People say that patience is a virtue.

Well, it is a virtue, but it’s one that I have not quite mastered.

I hate waiting. I hate waiting in lines, I hate waiting on people, I hate waiting on food, basically I hate waiting on anything that consisting of not appearing right before my eyes within a matter of seconds.

I believe that this is all due to the environment around us, this digital age we live in where the internet and all it has to offer us is at our constant beck and call, and of course outside the world wide web: fast food, which will always be a blessing and a curse. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve gone to McDonald’s or Sonic already in this first month of college, all because I didn’t have the motivation to get up and make myself a PB&J or even just heat up some of the ‘healthy’ microwave mac and cheese that my mother got me for these exact situations. But why walk all the way to the kitchen and make a semi-healthy meal when you could just drive over to the nearest fast food restaurant and have a high calorie meal that a bunch of people made for you? That sounds like a much better alternative to me.

But, despite how much I loathe waiting, there are times when there are certain things that are worth the wait.

I used to live in Europe, and in Europe they believe the exact opposite of Americans when it comes to waiting, especially when it comes to dinners. In Europe, a normal dinner can last up to about 4-5 hours, depending on how chatty the guests are.

People are seated fairly quickly, but then comes the waiting. Just try to imagine how antagonizing this was for a typical thirteen-year-old, dying to get back to staring at her computer screen updating her Facebook status every ten to fifteen minutes.

“Mom when is it going to get here?” This is the question of the hour, or in my case, multiple hours. We’d ask it with each course, the appetizer, the meal itself, the dessert and of course you can’t forget the coffee afterwards.

But, let’s not forget the point of the story here. There was a time when I ordered my absolute favorite dessert of all time. Crème brûlée. This was at a particularly fancy restaurant, with (what I assumed to be) crystal chandeliers and marble floors. It was that fancy. So I ordered my crème brûlée and I waited. And I waited some more. And pretty soon I had come to the conclusion that I had waited for approximately an hour and fifteen minutes and I was furious. I was asking my parents how much longer it would be or if we could just forget it and leave. They told me to wait and they told me time after time that patience is a virtue. Finally, after twenty more minutes had passed, my precious crème brûlée had arrived. I stuck my spoon into the hard, caramelized sugar and then down into the depths of the gooey but delicious custard.

It was at that moment that I realized that I had come across the most delicious crème brûlée I had ever tasted. I ate slowly, savoring every bite.

I walked out of the restaurant with a new attitude that night, because that was one of the first times in my life that something had been worth the wait.

Waiting may not be pleasant, and it may not be something that we all desire, but it is going to be there no matter what. Your delivery pizza will arrive late sometimes. Your Netflix series won’t load on the occasion because your Wi-Fi is particularly slow that night.

And that’s okay. Maybe not at the time, but we need to learn and take heart to the age old saying, that good things come to those who wait.