Pam’s Corner – Papa Bear’s Chair and Creatures of Habit

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By Pamela Perry Blaine

“They” say that we tend to be creatures of habit. I’ve always wondered if there is a board, committee, or council out there somewhere called “They” who have the authority to make these judgments.   Whoever “They” happen to be I don’t think “They” are always right.  For instance, there are folks like me who like a little change now and then.  There’s something about a little bit of change that lifts the spirits and can be quite refreshing as long as it is a good change.

Take furniture, for instance, (well, not literally, nobody would probably want to take my stuff) but in my opinion, furniture needs to be moved around occasionally.  It’s all about the fresh, new feeling and atmosphere it creates.  However, some people, like my husband for example, prefer furniture to stay right where it is because he isn’t much into atmosphere unless it happens to be weather-related.  He thinks if furniture should be somewhere else, we would have put it there in the first place.  Creatures of habit believe that once something is put in place, it should remain there until you change houses or the end of time, whichever comes first.

I have discovered (the hard way) that it is best to invite my husband into the land of furniture rearrangement with me. This learning experience came about when I once rearranged furniture while my husband was away.  He came home late one evening and being tired he didn’t bother to turn the light on as he decided to take a short rest in his favorite recliner.  This would have been fine except that his recliner wasn’t there.  I heard a rather irritated voice exclaiming from the living room, “Where is my chair?!!”  This definitely was NOT Papa Bear worrying about who had been sitting in his chair. Papa Bear’s chair seemed to have completely disappeared!  You might be glad to know that Papa Bear was not hurt.  The chair still existed, it had just been moved, and we did settle the furniture dispute out of court.

While not everyone is a creature of habit there are some people who are so that’s why it’s good to work together.  We now work together on furniture arrangement and I found that involving him provides some new insights as well as muscle to move things around.  I have agreed not to change the furniture too often while he agrees to rearrange it occasionally.  After all, we don’t know when time might end and it could be a little bit too long to wait to dust and to vacuum underneath Papa Bear’s chair.