Life’s a Waiting Room, Installation, 2025.

Life’s a Waiting Room clinic, Installation, Images from The Local, 2025.

The passing of time feels different for caregivers. It moves in tandem with another person’s time. It is witnessing. It is being present for the other person.

In medical waiting rooms, this time is often activated by bearing witness and advocating for someone’s needs. When we are disabled, unwell, or experiencing a positive moment, it’s hard to remember everything that’s required. Having another person to advocate, take notes, ask questions, and snap photos helps ensure that everyone's needs are met and remembered.

When we are in waiting rooms, we tend to assume and predict what comes after the wait. A diagnosis, a clear idea, or a plan. If we are stuck in the waiting room, we are stuck in an assumption. Stuck in hope, possibility, worst-case scenarios, anxiety, limbo, maybe, no’s, yes’s: of one day, but not now; not today, but maybe tomorrow. Waiting is caregiving, and caregiving is a waiting room.

Caregiving is the active process of waiting during the time needed to give and receive care, and a waiting room is the space that makes that care visible.

Read my article on Life’s a Waiting Room at The Conversation.