Branching out to overcome weird quirks, work toward normalcy

I pride myself on being a person who operates with some degree of normalcy, but there are always those few little quirks my friends and family find amusing. I am always proud when I overcome one of those OCD moments because I feel like I'm one step closer to being a more flexible young adult.

I think I finally kicked one of my habits last week. The location: Genghis Grill. The time: 12:30 p.m. At peak lunch hour, the restaurant is crowded with people enjoying Mongolian stir-fry while watching the Rangers game on two different screens.

Cue my boyfriend and myself. The hostess leads us to a table. On one side of the table there are two chairs. On the other side of the table is a booth, which runs through the center of the eating area, providing seats for multiple tables. Preferring the booth, I sit down and scoot over until the table is evenly centered in front of me. And then my boyfriend broke my cardinal rule of duo dining. He proceeded to slide into the booth with me, leaving the other side of the table vacant, and therefore unbalanced.

Not cool.

I hate it when I see people do this. If there were a third party with us to sit in one of the chairs, it would be fine. But if two people are eating together, they should always sit across from each other, so table space is evenly distributed and conversation can take place without having to turn your head to the side. Two people on the same side of the table is awkward.

I know why he did it, too. He knew if he sat across from me, his back would be turned to the televisions, and he would not be able to watch the game. Instead, he would be forced to sit and stare lovingly into my eyes.

But it was a playoff game, so after twitching and wincing and nearly suggesting he move, I took a deep breath and insisted he stay on my side of the table.

I told myself it was fine and started trying to pinpoint the good things about having him there.

1. He gets to watch the game and that makes him happy.

2. The physical closeness from sitting next to one another is nice.

But there are the bad points.

1. I eat left-handed.

2. He eats right-handed.

3. A combination of one and two makes eating awkward.

By the time lunch was through, I accepted it is not a great travesty to share one side of the table. I smiled as we left, proud of myself for branching out so much. Well, as much as I can anyway.