I do not have a testimony of having the overflow closed during sacrament meeting. I have to sit as far back as possible. I have this thing with sitting in front of other people. I don't want to feel their eyes staring at the back of my head--because that's what people do when they are behind you, look at the back of your head. Or maybe, just MAYBE that's just me who does that. It might have started when I was in hair school but I think I was doing that before then. I like staring at other people's hair. I also like watching everyone and reviewing who is at church. I can't very well do any of that from a side seat or middle seat or worst of all front seat. So you can imagine my shock and horror when I entered the chapel last week and found the overflow doors shut. My dad and I stood there for a long time trying to figure out where to go. Virtually all of the benches are taken by people who have occupied the same seats for at least the last five years. So all we could do was join one of the families on their bench. It was cramped and claustrophobic. I was totally worried about the fact that we were in someone's territory, I had people sitting behind me, and there was no way I could get out of that bench without having to do some serious climbing. I did not have the spirit with me.
So today I got there early in hopes to snag a good seat. I got lucky. The entire back bench near the door was completely unclaimed. So I took it. I saved a seat on either side of me--one for Jason and one for Deanna. Jason came in a few minutes later and sat down. So far so good. There was only room for one person to sit on the other side of me so I wasn't worried about anyone but Deanna taking it. We started to sing the opening hymn and all of sudden someone was sitting in the single seat. It wasn't Deanna. So I looked up at this person who said, "oh" knowing he had made a mistake. His wife was still standing because he clearly had poor judgement on how many could fit in that spot. He just sat there and I didn't budge because surely he was going to get up and find a spot where they would both fit. Instead he made us all move down. This left no room for Deanna and no room for the spirit in me. Once again, I was squished in a tiny space next to people I didn't want to be by--except for Jason of course. I felt terrible when Deanna came in a few minutes later and there was not a seat for her. This is exactly the sort of thing you can avoid when there is adequate seating. Apparently I am no longer going to have that and I am going to feel like Elaine on Seinfeld when she's trying to save seats at the movie theater.
