Change

     I suppose one may consider me a creature of habit, of routine.  My day tends to follow the same schedule.  I like to try to have everything in order, organized.  My calendar in January already has notes all the way to December written on it.  This pre-planning allows for lists and notes and near fanatical organization.  I do not like change.  Deviation from the norm is somewhat disconcerting.  It seems to throw me off for the day.  Though I love to handle challenges at work and look forward to the flexibility of dealing with any situation, coming home to a stable, comforting routine somehow keeps me grounded.
     Yet, perhaps it is "middle-age" or perhaps my tolerances for nonsense have slowly lowered over the years, I have found myself as of late moving outside the zones of comfort and routine.  My first major step was a "forced-hand" decision to change phone, Internet, and even TV services.  This for many is a ridiculously simple decision, but for me it was a near traumatic experience.  The phone is an evil entity to be avoided at all costs.  I do not like to be connected and to be connected at all times is even more horrific.  My TV programming has been provided by the same company for over 15 years with nary a thought of change.  But my Internet has been a source of contention.  Although I could live without the world wide web, my family for school, for work, for nearly everything needs the world at their fingertips.  My wife has fought with Verizon over the slow speeds and lack of support.  My kids have howled over the loading times that rivaled an old monk squirreled away in a monastery with an inkwell and quill.
     So out with everything old.  Change everything.  One extreme to another.  Now the world flies across my computer screen.  The TV holds all the same shows, just in a new box.  And my phone still brings apprehension with its sinister ring.  The world has not collapsed but I feel different.  The best part of this change is I get to write again and not like a monk but on something closer to a typewriter.