Not quite ready to throw in the towel

I haven't had much in the way of excitement to report as of late. I was thinking about that yesterday, yet realizing two things: how much of a groove I'm in, and how quickly I'm able to adapt to new situations. The workday wasn't anything out of the ordinary; but I'm in a job completely different from any I've ever had. I spent the afternoon with the distance runners on the high school track team. Then, I returned home, showered, and headed off to City Council. In other words, my typical day has changed.

After yet another eventful council meeting, learning more about the idiosyncrasies of Mission, South Dakota, I finished up my laundry. While folding the towels, it hit me: As easy as the transition from Juneau to Mission has been for me, some habits are hard to break.

You see, I'm particular about my towels. I have five of them, along with 20 washcloths. See the ratio? Each towel is thrown into the hamper after four showers, or washcloths. It's a bit anal on my part, but the symmetry works for me. The towels are all folded and stacked the same way, just like Mom has always done. The washcloths are all similarly oriented on the shelf, two stacks of 10.

Back in Juneau, I did determine my routine was a bit rigid, so I stopped worrying about folding them precisely in the same manner. (The tag previously had to be placed in a certain direction before folding.) And when I recently lost a washcloth, I replaced it with one of a different shade of green (olive vs. hunter). See how adaptable I am?

But if you could only see the gears turn in my head if, god forbid, I have company use my shower. That one loaned towel throws off the ratio! Do I increase the number of showers per towel? Or do I stick with the Rule of Four and do laundry sooner than usual? Oh, the torment!

I smiled when I thought about the juxtaposition of the adjustment to my new day-to-day life in Mission against my obsessive-compulsive tendencies from the past. The funny thing is I used to be even more structured. Here's a snippet from a job interview from years ago:

Interviewer: What is your biggest weakness?

Me: Well, I'm pretty anal.

Interviewer: Oh, don't worry about that. We're all like that here.

I got the job.

And I can just hear my former co-workers screaming, "But you were that way in Juneau too!" Okay, I'll give you that. Overall though, there is now a malleability present in my life that maybe wasn't as obvious in years past.

So, what's the lesson here? I guess no matter where I go, I still have my quirks rooting me to the past. But I'll still lend you a towel when you come to visit.