And this chair is just right

My tribe is a "spot" tribe.

This chair is too small, this chair is too big, and this chair is just right.

When I was growing up, my dad had his spot on the couch. If any of us were in his spot when he came in, he would come and sit down on top of us like we weren't there, and in a loud, joking voice say, "Gosh, this couch is really lumpy", and we would yell, "Dad, Dad!!!" and finally he would turn around and be like, "Oh! How did you get there" and get up so you could scramble out of the way. My mom has her spot on the couch, and if you are in Mom's spot, Dad tells you you are in Mom's spot and you get up and move. We also had spots at the dining room table.

I hadn't realized how engrained this spot thing was until recently. I have two matching recliners, and one of them happens to be closer to the monitor screen. But I always assumed that was just because that is how it worked out with the furniture arrangement. My roommate and I were both home on the snow day, and when my roommate came downstairs, she sat in the chair that was closest to the monitor. It was at that moment that I realized it was my chair. Before that point, I hadn't realized that I always sat in exactly the same chair to watch tv, work from home, write in my blog, cross stitch, do everything. I do. I sit in exactly the same chair. No matter that I have one that matches it. It isn't My Chair. So I was flabbergasted that my roommate would be in my chair. Of course, my chair doesn't have a sign on it, so how would she know. And then I remembered..... this happened at work. At work we have repeating meetings, the same meeting in the same room every week. I sit in the same spot in these meetings. One day someone was sitting in my spot, and I walked into the room and said, you are in my chair. They looked startled, and got up and moved. People in the office now joke about how it is my chair....

I hadn't realized that not everyone is like this. Not everyone comes from a "spot" tribe. My roommate doesn't come from a spot tribe. Her family didn't have assigned couch spots. So she didn't realize that I had a spot. So I was talking to her about it later, and was explaining how upsetting it was to not have my spot, and she laughed at me, and I laughed, because it is a bit funny. But I do hope that from now on, she will not sit in my spot.