I was watching All In The Family and of course you all know that Archie has his chair, and no one can sit in it, but him. At least when he’s home.
So my question is do any of you have your own chair or other piece of furniture? A spot on the couch? Sort of like Sheldon on the Big Bang Theory has his spot on the couch.
You know a chair or a spot you or another family member HAS to have as his/her own?
As I said, it doesn’t have to be a chair, but something along the lines like a piece of furniture or a spot on a couch or even a side of the bed?
My grandparents, while changing furniture frequently, always had their living room set up the exact same way for as long as I can remember. Grampa had the Laz-E-Boy in front of the TeeVee. Grandma always sat on the davenport. My great-grandfather always had the other chair with the matching ottoman, but he died when I was little … and my great-grandmother took it over.
And it was literally as you said … “get out of Old-Grany’s chair, she’s coming in to watch The Young and the Restless.” … “You’d better get out of Grampa’s chair before the game starts.”
Yeah, of course. I’ve spent years working on that ass groove.
As a child everyone had their spot at the dining room table. Dad’s chair and Mom’s chair in the living room were vacated by the occupant child as Dad or Mom came in.
My ex and I–through a dozen apartments and bedroom configurations and beds–always slept on our own side of the bed that had been determined the first night we slept together.
And even being single now, I sit in the same chair at the table every time I eat (the other three chairs might as well not exist), and sleep on the same side of the bed every night. I’ll be surprised to find that people switch around at random.
I like the side of the bed closest to the window. Changing houses years ago meant a different side of the bed. It felt weird for a few nights, but my window was cracked just a bit and I was happy.
I sit on the left end of the sofa. No idea why. That’s where my butt seems to drop.
I think nearly everyone has places they sit by habit. If a guest sat on the sofa I wouldn’t care or make a scene. My wife has her favorite spots to sit. We’ve never made any rules or anything.
I have a leather Lazy-Boy recliner that I inherited from my Dad (due to his purchase of a better replacement)…it’s “MY” chair, but I rarely sit in it because my man-cave TV is downstairs with the L-shaped couch. I do however object to the spinning of the chair by my sons (which ends up with the chair marking up the drywall behind it) or them using it for anything other than sitting in because its a fun roughhousing platform for them.
You should see the level of respect they have for Grandpa’s new chair though. Its an altar, and they only sit in it on Grandpa’s lap when he’s sitting in it and he asks them over.
I must be parenting wrong. My Dad can control them better than I ever could. He’s a retired Army general with a very firm way about him, though.
I have a motherfucker of a La-Z-Boy chair that I paid nearly $1000 for 16 years ago. It’s my chair, and tho I will let others sit in it if I don’t need to be sitting, when I want the chair, I get the chair. I’ve even booted my mom out of it.
The idea of not having your own spot seems foreign to me. My sister and I even had which side of the backseat belonged to us, although that’s become less of a problem now.
Yes. In fact, when our daughter comes home, we have to all adjust to new seating and sleeping arrangements. My husband and I have to sleep in different beds, because he can’t sleep on the hard mattress that I require, and I can’t sleep on the soft mattress that he finds comfy. It’s Jack Sprat and his wife all over again, only with mattresses. And I’ve become accustomed to having a radio playing softly while I sleep, and a night light, while he wants (but doesn’t always get) complete silence and darkness. And we each have our easy chairs in the living room. Mine has a reading light positioned over it, so that I can read, while his has an ottoman in front of it, so he can rest his feet.
Before we learned that we needed separate beds, we each had our own side of the bed.
The cats do not respect our claims on the furniture. They will lounge on any chair and any bed that takes their fancy at the moment, and part of our bedtime rituals is telling the cats to MOVE IT. This is shortly followed by picking the cats up, because no self respecting cat is going to move its ass just because a human told it to move.
My mom. Left side of the bed upstairs? When she moved downstairs to start sleeping? Took over the entire couch. The comfiest chair? Hers. Certain chair in the dining room? Hers. The driveway? Hers. My dad’s car, once she got used to driving it? Hers.
Any challenging of the norm would result in a major shitstorm.
This must be an age thing. Seems we’re more possessive of our “spots” than we used to be.
When I was invited to my then boyfriend’s home for the first time for dinner I unknowingly sat in his father’s chair. I chose one on the side deliberately since the male in the family usually sits at the head of the table and no one had assigned me a place.
I was aware of his dad pacing restlessly behind me and wondered what was going on until boyfriend whispered to me that I was in his dad’s chair. Thought it was an odd thing but I get it now.
When we sleep in a hotel husband always takes the side of the bed closest to the door. I suppose he’s protecting his fragile spouse from night intruders. Heh. Anyway, we don’t discuss it; it’s just automatic.
At home I have my comfy chair, a microfiber overstuffed chair with large footstool. It’s so big I can get lost in it. Or take a nap.
And yes, when we have guests and someone sits there, I feel like pacing. Awright, awright, always give your houseguests the best.
For the first twelve years of our marriage we moved a lot and I remember that in every new place it took a while to find my spot.
My wife and I are firm believers in the importance of separate computers, and though we sleep in the same bed, separate sheets and blankets. We are both notorious blanket hogs, and I tend to run quite a bit hotter than she does - I would sweat to death under the sandwich of sheets and blankets she requires in the winter, while she would freeze under my single sheet.
We have places that we’ll sit in for a while, but after a few months we change it around. The kids set the table and choose seats for everyone, and they vary a lot depending on how well they are getting on.
I have my side of the bed, and my spot on the couch. My grandparents always had their spots, too. One in the kitchen, one in the living room (god forbid you were in pawpaws spot on the couch when he wanted to watch something, especially NASCAR) – for each of them. We, the grandkids, even fell into our own spots… Isn’t this how society works? Order out of chaos?
My kids sit in specific seats at the table. I do not enforce this on them, but they each like their ‘spot’ and will sit only there under normal circumstances.
I’ve never really thought about it but we’ve had a bit of this in my family.
My grandfather had this nice padded dining chair that was always his, I have vivid memories of him rolling cigarettes, reading the newspaper, and of course eating, all at the dining table in this chair. He was right next to the phone, the house was small enough that he could see the TV from where he was… he wasn’t confined to the chair by illness or anything but it was his favourite place to be when he didn’t need to be somewhere else. I have the chair now, since he passed away, it sits in my room.
My family has their spots all around the dining table, and we all move around one to the left when one of us isn’t there.
My sister and I have sides of the backseat of the car, too. It feels weird if I find myself on her side.
And of course my parents have their own sides of the bed.
Edit: simulpost with the above so the similiarity in our phrasing is a coincidence - unless Palo Verde is one of my parents in disguise!
Wherever I sleep, I can actually go to sleep if I’m on the left. It bugs the crap out of me when I’m in a single room in a hotel and the night stand is on the right. Any man that I’ve shared my bed with has found out which side is mine.
Growing up, we all had our own places at the kitchen table. I think it started when us kids were small, what with a couple of them needing help from an adult and a couple more not behaving well when seated together.
Mom and Dad always had their own places in the living room. Us kids just found an empty spot.
