Do you know the feeling you get after waiting for something for a long time? It's the feeling that can be described as being on a year long roller coaster. Time goes by slowly at first, but at a second glance, so much has happened in a blink of an eye it's as if you plunged thousands of feet without so much as a warning. You've gone through your ups and your downs. Your twists and your turns. Sometimes, it even feels like the world is flipped upside down, and you can hardly breathe.

But then, it comes to a halt, and you finally get off. Only to get back in line and wait for the next ride. But this one takes even longer because you're just waiting. You can almost see the next car coming in on the tracks but it is going so slow. All you can do is stand there and wait for it to arrive so that you can finally move again.

Only then comes one of the ride conductors. They step out of the room they hide in to say that there is to be a maintenance check. They tell you that the ride is going to start up once it is done, but they don't tell you when. They just turn back around and shut themselves in that room where they can control everything that happens from then on. Not even concerned for those waiting in line.

And you know that there are so many other people around you that are just as disappointed. You know that you are not the only one that wants to shout out in frustration for having plans squashed and your life put on hold once again for even longer than what was expected. You're not the only one that wants to know when the ride will begin again. When the line will move again. When you can move again.

But at that point, you can only think about that feeling in the pit of your chest that you can't quite define. At that point, you can only think about all the twists and the turns and how excited you were just minutes before because you knew that you would be next and you could ride again.

So you stand there, not quite sure what to do. You think whether or not you should move backward in the line and move on to the next ride, but know that that has never been something you wanted to do. You wonder if you have time to go back home or if they will change their mind and open the ride again soon. Would it be a waste of money to leave then and pay to come back when the ride is back up and running? Would it just happen again?

Time passes at a crawl while you just stand there. It feels like days have passed but it's only been a couple minutes. You can't explain the way that you feel to anyone. You aren't sad. You're not even mad. No matter what happens, you just feel so tired.

The ride conductor comes out of the control room and says that the ride will be up in five minutes. You want to get excited but you're afraid that it might end badly. You were excited before and was knocked on your back when it was taken away from you. Is it safe to let yourself give in to the giddy feeling that wants to bubble over the top?

The line is moving now and you see the car roll in on the tracks. Just as you get to that thing that spins you through, the person stops you and tells you that you have to wait for the next one. You get a little disappointed but you are allowing yourself to get excited at this point. You can hear the clicking of the car as it reaches the highest peak before the screams of joy and fright pierce through the air and drift down to you in a sort of promise of what is to come.

Finally, it is your turn and you can see the car rolling in once again. The earlier passengers get out with wind tussled hair and smiles on their faces. Some will get back in line, but others will go on to the next ride and gain yet another experience. There is no way of knowing. All you know is that it is your turn.

After you climb into your car, the seat belt is fastened and the car beings to glide out and make the climb to the top of the first peak. You can hear the clicking louder this time as you inch toward the final goal. The wind is blowing and your heart pounding. You're looking around once more to see how high you are getting and quickly look in front of you when the clicking ends and everything stands still. You can finally see it and you smile as it plunges down and begins the next trip of twists, turns and upside downs.

This is what this past year has felt like for me. It was a long year of waiting for my fiance to get home from his deployment. It was filled with ups and downs, highs and lows, but we made it. For others, it could be a wide variety of things that they are waiting for. Things that they can't control when it happens or how it happens. The world keeps turning no matter what, and the only thing you can do is hold on and ride it out. In the end, the wait will have been worth it.