It’s time to get down with the get down…
At the movies! Your arms bearhug fat tubs of popcorn and slippery jumbo drinks as you blindly stumble down the dark aisle. You scan the chattery crowd dotting the red plushy tundra before noticing your friend thirty rows up giving you the two armed wave.
At the school assembly! You’re separated from your fourth grade soulmate and only see each other while double-dutching by the portables at recess. But then come student council speeches, music recitals, or a Thanksgiving play and suddenly your hearts spark again at the back of the bleachers.
At the concert! Boots up, you’re bumpily crowdsurfing at the front of the mosh pit. After you crash land on your neck in a dirty puddle of warm beer, your friend yanks you up by the wrist and squeezes you beside her right in front of the stage.
At the rocket ship before blastoff! You slept in and got stuck in highway traffic so now you’re chomping on a fistful of ice cream pellets while Velcroing your aluminum-foil-and-fishbowl getup together in the car. You arrive at the launchpad and race down the thin metal bridges into the ship as the engines fire up… and there’s Cindy! With a windbreaker lying on the window seat beside her.
Yes, when you spot a friend snagging you a prime seat it’s good times, it’s good times. After all, they’re expressing your friendship to the world by deciding twenty minutes of stinkeye is worth making sure you sit together. Now you get to chat, laugh, and love those good times with a close friend.
Buddy, I don’t know what you call that if you don’t call that
AWESOME!
Join us in Vancouver tomorrow or Washington, DC in a few weeks!
— Email message —
“Neil, I’d been going through a rough patch in life. You know, bad day after bad day, glum songs always on my iPod, etc. I made my parents buy me The Book of Awesome and I hate to sound cliché but it totally changed my outlook on life and turned my pessimism into optimism. I started noticing awesome things in life. I noticed that although we have no ‘really really old Tupperware’, we do have old Cool Whip containers. People waving at me from their cars, the smell of gasoline. It’s just made life that much more awesome to me… thank you from a devoted reader.” – Jordan
Man, I love it when my friends save me seats on rocket ships. It’s so hard finding a place to sit sometimes!
What about saving seats on roller coasters? That’s pretty awesome, too.
There’s not a lot that makes you feel more loved and invited than someone saving you a seat.
I love the scenarios. Though I can most realistically/personally relate with the rocket ship blastoff, I like the school assemblies one best. I want to be the kind of teacher who remembers that I’m the kind of kid who liked to sit next to her long-lost soulmate from the other class. When you’re a kid, in that moment, there’s nothing better (except like candy and soda and extra recess or something … but anyway).
:)
..and it is seriously not a fun for person who saves it :p
Maybe not at first, but when your friend’s face lights up at the realization of you saving them a seat, it’s so worth it!
My daughter has started saving me a seat at only 5 years old. Whether its at home on the couch, at her school for parents day, or at a cookout, there’s always a seat waiting for me. I love to see her pat the seat beside her and say, “You want to sit with me, Mommy?”
Aw…. that’s so sweet! I love it!
my niece does the same to me….the reserved seat makes it all the more pleasant and you feel like a queen
The times when she doesn’t save me a seat and I’m sitting down before her, she just plops that butt down in my lap. That’s always her saved seat. She’s getting a bit too big for that now and soon my tummy is gonna push her off my lap.
Oh that’s always the best. Though you can’t save it too long…otherwise you fall victim to the glares of people around you.
Especially when the other person doesn’t show up! Then your really feel like an ass. You just wasted everybody’s time AND space. For what? Seemingly just for a little extra elbow room. It wasn’t a secret that Frank really wanted the co-pilot seat on that rocket…
A couple of weekends ago I went to a graduation with my bff and her family. There was 4 of us trying to save like 20 seats for the rest of the family and friends. It was horrible. Half of them didn’t show.
Yeah … last year my friend and I went to a reading education conference and there was a group of teachers who propped an entire row of chairs against the tables so people couldn’t sit, saving them for more teachers from their school.
Well, I don’t know what happened, but those teachers never showed. Talk about them feeling like asses … saved a whole row and forced others to awkwardly squeeze in at the ends of tables, and their party never showed.
They were on the receiving end of some VERY serious stinkeye.
I’m amazed that something so small makes such a huge difference in a child’s day! Saving a seat! Thanks! Except it’s definitely not awesome if you want a seat and somebody says “Sorry, this is saved.” My poor daughter has had that happen all year. But, she’s recovered: http://livewithflair.blogspot.com/2010/06/fame-that-lasts-till-lunch.html
This is the best thing EVER especially when it’s in a crowded university auditorium, and your friend saves you the perfect aisle seat so you dont have to climb over a bunch of half awake fellow students and their GIANT back packs to get the your seat. Plus it makes you feel super special! ;)
Sometimes I also like the unexpected pleasure of sitting beside a complete stranger and discovering that we’ve both unconconsciously started smiling at each other. This is particularly lovely when travelling by oneself.
I admin to having mixed emotions here. I do not like it when people save seats for someone who never shows, or is too lazy to stand in line like I did to get in . However, it is awfully sweet to have someone save me a seat. They stood in line longer, and though of me. I like that.
It is very refreshing to find that a seat is saved for me especially when running late. I know the movie theater example mentioned hits home for me!
At my last job, my “work husband” would put a napkin at the place next to him at our lunch table every day. A lot of times, walking into the lunchroom and seeing that napkin was the best part of my day. It’s nice to feel wanted.
My awesome thing today……found out about this website on Studio 4, Vancouver. Its really really great, I’ll be a regular from now on!
I love my friends and we always save each other seats! We are just that awesome =]
This one gets a double “awesome! awesome!”
what about… holding someone’s spot in line. cause my friend did that for me today and it was a life saver
The best thing ever is when you get saved a seat in a packed out cinema – you’ll have to fight off everybody else though to keep it!
That’s great, in Vietnam holidays i and my best friend go to travel vietnam. it’s really true happy
True friends and thoughtful children…the best:)
Anyone or anything that can make teenagers see what is awesome in the world is awesome!!
You feel really appreciated when someone does this for you. Especially when you feel left out all the time :)