I was at the airport yesterday picking up my wife upon her return from a brief trip abroad.

It took some time from the landing of the flight until she made it out through luggage, passport control and customs, and during that time I was in the Arrivals lounge observing the various people waiting for loved ones.

I noticed that every single person was waiting and anticipating the moment their arriving friend or relative would step out through those doors. People position themselves in the best possible location they can find that gives them the best view of the doors, and beyond the doors for the fleeting moments they are open, so they can see their relative at the first possible moment they are see-able.

They jockey for position and they wait there. Then every time someone walks through the doors, everyone is straining to see if it is their relative or maybe their relative is behind them and you can catch a glimpse deep in the Custoims room while the doors are still open.

Then finally your relatives/friend steps out from behind the doors. Most people go running to give them a hug and kiss. Some play it cooler and wait until he/she comes down the lane and steps out of the main view of the public.

The tension while waiting, the anticipation we have, for our arriving spouse/child/cousin/friend, even if they were just on a brief trip and we had seen each other a week before, or if it was a long trip and we had seen each other only 15 years before, or never before, I think that anticipation is what we are supposed to be feeling towards Mashiach.

If we would be waiting for Mashiach with the same level of anticipation as we do for our relatives coming from a brief trip abroad (no easy task), I think he would already have arrived.
If we would consider that Mashiach's flight has landed and we are just waiting for him to step out through those doors, he would probably step out pretty quickly.

These are some of the things I wonder about on Lag B'Omer:

1. Do you ever stand around at the bonfire wondering what the point of it really is?
2. Why is it that only real Yerushalmim know how to celebrate Lag B'Omer around a bonfire while everyone else just looks at it not knowing what to do and feeling kinda silly?
3. When did Lag B'Omer become a campfire, where after a few minutes of dancing and singing offkey songs that are too long, all we are concerned about is roasting our marshmallows and hotdogs?
4. Where does all that wood suddenly come from? During the year I never see so much wood around the neighborhood..
5. Why do we already listen to music at night of Lag B'Omer when the halacha only eases up on the restrictions at earliest on Lag B'Omer day? Is it because the issur on music is not really so assur?
6. How am I supposed to go to so many events on Lag B'Omer? we have 2 weddings today, a school bonfire, work, and that is already after last night's bonfires.
7. Who cleans up all the ash and soot around the neighborhood from all the bonfires?
8. How come I never see kids shooting bows and arrows in the park? When I was a kid, nobody lit bonfires on Lag B'Omer but we shot bows and arrows in the park.
9. Where was everybody in shul today? I went to my regular morning minyan and there were about 12 people there! Did the rest all go to Meron?

Feel free to add your own in the comments. I might add some during the day as I think of them..