Change...I don't like it.

I apparently do not do change well.

This was a well known fact to everyone but myself. It has been a recent discovery for me.

But I should have guessed as I get very attached to things that most people would not normally get attached to.

Here are some examples….

I like my favorite sugary breakfast cereals the way they are and get quite irritated when the powers that be add a new color or shape.

This irritation also applies when a candy I like adds a new flavor. GAH! Why mess with a good thing?? It took me a while to get used to blue M&M’s.

I like to eat or drink with certain cups or utensils. I am still quite attached to and use my Strawberry Shortcake fork from when I was a toddler. I lost the knife a while ago…maybe it ran away with the spoon that is also missing. I will require therapy if said fork were to ever join its buddies.

I even have hard hard time adjusting when land that for years has sat empty (and full of weeds) is developed into a strip mall or subdivision. Most people would see this development as an improvement and I understand that it is but it makes me sad because in the spring there are pretty purple flowers that bloom and I will miss them.

And don’t even think about messing with holiday traditions.

Goodness gracious.

I have thrown a fit for many years now over the fact that my mom would like to get an artificial tree. This is NOT because I have anything against artificial trees. It is because it would change our Christmas traditions and I don’t like that. No, I don’t. Not a bit. Just ask my Mom. She will reiterate that I am very very against the artificial tree tomfoolery.

I’m sure my mom would have a lot to say about my full on grown-up temper tantrum that I had the other night when I found out that my brother (who is getting married in 3 weeks) took his Christmas ornaments.

This wouldn't seem like a big deal. People grow up. Get married. Take their stuff with them.

But to me it was the end of a tradition. Our ornaments will never live together on the same tree. We will never fight over who got to hang this ornament or that one.

He was very sweet and gave me a very nice hug as I sobbed and told him that Christmas is ruined and essentially it’s all his fault. Poor kid, he had no idea what was waiting for him when he walked in the door. He even offered to give me some of his ornaments in an effort to try to make me stop crying.

I guess the reason I get attached to things is because it's nice to have some things in life be the same from day to day. I grow accustomed to the way things are and how they make ordinary chaotic life have some stability and continuity.

I like opening the boxes that have held the Christmas ornaments for the past 20ish years and seeing the mix of old and new mingle together to create something beautiful.

I long for the visual relief that the open tract of land provides amidst the chaos of all the traffic and neon newness.

It's nice to have some things stay the same to link together old and new in a way that makes life not so scary.

In Texas, those things will be Target, Starbucks and Target.