To sum up for those who aren't on Facebook, I have a favorite seat on the morning bus. The Seat is perfect. It's two rows back, which means that the people who want the very front seats have already found a seat before they get to my row and it's too far forward for the people who like to sit at the back. So I usually get the row to myself. There is a floor heater a couple of rows back... which means my row gets the benefit of warm toes without the scorched calves from sitting directly over the heater. And it's on the left, which makes The Seat better for no particular reason. I just always sit on the left side of the bus.
I have been sitting in The Seat for almost 5 years. Every morning, I get on (at the first stop, so I have my pick of seats), sit down in The Seat, joke around with my fellow early-morning passengers for a few minutes, and then take a nap on my way to work. It's a good start to my day. But a couple of months ago, a new person started riding our bus and getting on at the first stop. And she sat in The Seat! Of course, I turned to Facebook to tell everyone about my trauma.
And it continued. Since mine is the first stop, the bus usually gets there 5-10 minutes early and we can get on and wait for time to go. I would get to the bus and find her already sitting in The Seat. I soon dubbed her The Seat Stealer. So I tried to get there earlier and get The Seat first. With varying degrees of success.
Soon we (me and my Facebook buddies) began to wonder if The Seat Stealer actually knew we were racing for the seat, or if it was all in my own head. But it seemed that I would come early, and then she would come earlier. I would hurry down the sidewalk, and then she would cut across the lawn. It's generally about 50/50 on which of us gets The Seat.
I won!
She won.
It's a race! And a loss...
But this morning came a defining moment in the bus war. The moment that will allow us to learn, once and for all, if The Seat Stealer knows that we are racing for The Seat.
We were joking around as usual on the bus this morning. As usual, Seat Stealer was sitting quietly and not participating much. We don't hold that against her - she must not be a morning person. I was in The Seat. The conversation turned to the fact that we are all such creatures of habit that we even park in the same spots in the parking lot each morning. And most of us sit in the same seat every day.
I seized my chance. I pointed out that Kelly always takes the front seat because she gets carsick, Wendy always has the third row because she's tall and there's a little extra legroom. Maria always takes the spot by the wheelchair entrance. And I mentioned that I always like the seat in the 2nd row from the front on the left. It's my favorite seat and I try to always sit there. I may have mentioned it a couple of times. (Wendy winked at me... she knows my frustration at not always getting The Seat.)
So now it's out. I publicly proclaimed - right there in front of Seat Stealer - my love for The Seat. Now if she continues to sit there, we'll know that she's doing it deliberately and truly IS a Seat Stealer.
If you were here with me now, you would hear the incredibly appropriate background music that happens to be playing on my iPod...
"Tomorrow we'll discover what
our God in Heaven has in store!
One more dawn...
One more day...
One day more!"
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