Fear of the unknown

This Wednesday I was scheduled to go for my appointment at 1pm in a Federal Building in Alexandria (let me spare the details). As you all know that in Virginia we had snow on Tuesday, followed by sleet and wintry mix on Wednesday. By late morning on Wednesday, the snow and sleet was packed into thick ice sheets all over the place. As far as our eyes could go, we saw a pristine blanket of snow …… err…..ice. So this time, it is ice we are dealing with in cleaning. My driveway was covered with a thick layer of ice and we had to clean the driveway before we can take the van out to go for my appointment. If it was snow, you shovel it and you are done. If it is a thick sheet of ice, what do you do? Shoveling does not work. You have to break the ice and then remove it. You get the idea as to how the cleaning process would have been. After cleaning the driveway, I made sure I had all the necessary papers for the appointment, took the van out and off I went.


While driving, all I was hoping was that I reach for the appointment on time. I barely saw any cars on the road, given the fact that there was sleet and ice all over the place. The few cars that I saw was either in an accident or pulled over, stuck in ice, waiting for the tow truck to pull them out. My first dose of fear kicked in. All I was hoping for, is to be safe while driving, not getting stuck on ice or in traffic and getting there on time. I lucked out on driving safely and traffic and I got there on time at 1pm. Now there was ice and snow piled all over the parking lot and it is time for me to look for a spot to park. After getting a spot to park, I was happy to park and walk to the building entrance, only to see a long line formed outside the building. I enquired amongst the people who were standing and found out that it was the 1pm appointment line. Well, I had an appointment at 1pm which meant that I get to go in and do what I had to at 1pm. That time was reserved for me. As Seinfeld will put it, ‘they knew to make an appointment but didn’t know to hold on to it’.


I joined the horde and waited for my turn to get into the building. While waiting, I noticed the board saying ‘no cell phones, no food, no drinks, no cameras …….’ And I was thinking to myself as to what I was getting into. So my second dose of fear kicked in, not knowing what would be next, only to find out that all 1pm appointments were cancelled because of bad weather and servicing personnel not being present. I came back home that day after I rescheduled my appointment to Friday - today, not knowing where that trip was taking me, not knowing what my unknown fear was.


Today, I went again to the same building at 1pm. No parking hazard, no lines outside. So I walked in and showed my appointment letter to the receptionist. She checked my papers and IDs, gave a form to be filled out and made me sit in a waiting area. While waiting there, I was wondering where I would go next. After I filled out the forms, I was taken to another waiting area with a token in my hand. In that large waiting hall, I was holding a token and waiting for that number to show up on screen, so I would be attended. During my wait, I was anxious, eager and dreading to see what the end would be like, to know what it was all about. After an hour of wait, I was called upon and my job was done in less than ten minutes. For that small job, the amount of eagerness I had, the amount of ‘what would happen next’ was spell bound. oh well...If one has that fear of the unknown, they just have to wait it out.