the bench

We are such creatures of habit--
I like the familiar the routine...
I do things the same way because it just "feels right"
When it comes to church on Sunday
I like to drive the same way--
park in the same area
enter in the same set of doors
and after many years we now have a bench.
We have found that in our building we do not fit on the side benches--
just too many of us and the butts are too big for all of us to fit on the side so we are relegated to the middle benches.
Somehow we have one that we have marked as "ours"
I don't know when it happened...it just did
Today when i came it my husband was already sitting down
and we were just one row back from our normal bench--
it felt weird--
first of all we were displacing the family that normally sat behind us
(at the time i did not know that they were not there today)
it had a different view--
just strange that's all....

As i was reflecting on my bench situation i realized that sooner than later we would be able to fit on a side bench. Our days of my whole family attending church together is limited--
my bench will be thinning out in the years to come.
I hadn't really thought about the fact as my children graduate that they also move onto another ward--a ward without their family sitting with them.
I remember other families with full benches not too long ago--
and now i see them sitting as empty Nester's...
Is this what i have to look forward to?
It won't be too many years before we can fit on the side bench again--
just another change...
another adjustment--
that i will be making before i know it.