I've been thinking about the simple pleasure of having to wait for something.

We're being deprived of the joy of waiting by the instant availability of everything in our world.

There is a particular kind of beer that I love. It's only available in the summer and, even then, can be hard to find. It was available a little longer into the fall last year so I stocked up. At the peak, I probably had 14 or 15 bottles squirreled away in the basement. It was lovely to be able to have them all through the winter and spring.

Now I've run out and summer is over and they're gone from the store shelves. And I'm sad that I won't get to have them for a while but I'm enjoying the anticipation. The thought of how good it'll taste when I finally get to have one again.

I buy a lot of digital music. It's exciting to hear a song I really like and be able to immediately buy it.

But there are a couple of bands and I always pre-order their latest albums on CD. And I love not know when the album is actually going to come out. And I love not knowing when I'll come home from work to find a padded envelope on the table.

The simple pleasure of having to wait for something