Going a different direction

My running bud Otto in Lafayette Park.

I don't have an easy time with change, and especially change of routine.  I don't feel bad - routine is the only was to run a household of 2 adults, 4 kids, 2 cats, one dog.  I've used the same mascara since I was 15 years years old.  I hate trying new recipes - they usually fail.  I run the same routes I've been running since we moved to Soulard 14 years ago.  I swim a mile the exact same way - 35 free, 10 breast, 10 back, 10 free - as long as I can remember.  My minivan is 10+ years old.  My laundry system makes no sense at all, and yet the baskets remain the same haphazard way.  Why is that chair/vase/picture where it is?  I have no idea.  That's just where it "goes."

I buy the same apples (Gala at Schnucks, Jazz at Aldi, Honeycrisp sliced at Sams), juice, ceral, bagels and yogurt I've bought since the kids were little.

My current hairstyle is entering year 18.  I use the same begonia, geranium and tulip color every spring.  I had the same job for 20 years.  Notice I said "had." Earlier this month, I took a leap and left the firm where I started when I got out of law school.  Actually, I did work at Neiman Marcus holiday 1996 so I could get a discount on a lawyer lady wardrobe before I started.  But I left the firm and now my routine is definitely different.

And I also took a new running route, running through alleys and weird side streets where I found this groovy neato attached pair of houses.  About those alley runs.  Don't worry.  I run with a very large dog.