The Gift of Seats

Really? Could it be? It looked as though the last two passengers just boarded the plane, passed my row and plopped down in their assigned seats. This meant I had row 14 to myself. At least seats 14A, 14B and 14C. I was strategically sitting in the aisle seat for easy access to the bathroom, but now it didn’t matter. I unbuckled my seatbelt and shifted over to the window seat, moving my purse and book. I needed to take full advantage of this! A whole three seats to myself. It was an unexpected gift, really. This just does not happen often. So I pushed up the arm rest next to me and pulled my legs up to sit Indian-style, something so not possible if there were a person—big or small—next to me. Then after we had reached our cruising altitude and the beverage cart had gone by and therefore lights were shut out, I decided it was time to sleep, and I was going to use these free seats. So, seatbelt still on—because they hadn’t turned the seatbelt light off—I awkwardly laid down across the three seats, pushing the second arm rest up too. For the record, I pulled my hood up before laying down. Otherwise my head would have been on the seat. Gross.

I shifted. Ouch. Seatbelt from 14B in my back. Shifted again. Dangit. Other seatbelt from 14C now in my shoulder. Ok. Shifted again. But then after a few minutes, my hip was hurting because the edges of the seats, where they come together, actually raises a little and is firmer, and that area was digging into my hip. Ugh. Ok. Shift again. I had to loosen my own seatbelt so I could move around a little easier. And then my shirt needed to be pulled down because it was starting to ride up with all my shifting. At this point I’m muttering to myself about how stinkin’ cold it is and I should have opted for socks and tennies instead of flip flops because my toes were freezing. Ahh...ok. I’m finally situated. As I calculated in my head how many more minutes we had to go before landing and how many hours—given the time differences—it had been since I had last eaten (these are the things I think about)... I drifted off into a snooze... And then BAM! Owie owie owie! The second arm rest that I had pushed back, had come flying back down to hit the lower left part of my head. (I swear the man behind had to have done it, otherwise why would it randomly fall?) So there I was lying across the three chairs on my side with the arm rest now resting on my head. Wow. Three seats to myself. What a gift! And I just HAD to use it.

This is so me. I will go to great lengths to use up or make the most of certain things. For example, if I have a coupon, it doesn’t matter if I don’t really need anything from that particular place, I feel this need to go use the coupon simply because I have it! So, the coupon is meant to save you money, but I’ll actually go spend money I didn’t need to spend because I have a coupon. So it doesn’t save me anything. It only takes away! One of my friends and I joke about how ridiculous we are when unexpectedly we have a free evening because plans fell through. We suddenly begin stressing out because that free time needs to be well-spent. We need to make the most of it! We’d probably be better if original plans had stayed in place because then we wouldn’t be stressing. And if I have three seats in an airplane to myself, I’m going to use them, dangit! Even if leaning up against the window, using my sweatshirt as a pillow may be 100 times more comfortable. And even if it means getting hit in the head with an arm rest.

I wish I had this problem with life, in general, sometimes. Why don’t I make the most of moments, events, relationships? Why don’t I stretch myself across entire days? Because they are all gifts. Undeserved gifts that I take so for granted. In fact, sometimes I wish them away. I wish certain days would hurry up and be over. I wish some conversations, some chores or responsibilities weren’t necessary. I think if I thought of everything as an undeserved, unexpected gift from God—which I believe truly is the case, even if sometimes an arm rest hits me in the head—I’d make so much more of the moment. Maybe I need to start thinking of days as three empty seats on the airplane...

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17