I'm sitting in my home office having just gone back to my regular part time job at a local university.  The last three months I have filled in for a dear friend and co-worker while she bonded with her new baby.  I'm trying to get out of my funk (aka writer's block) as I "go back" to my old routine by showing up and writing.... and then starting over again, and again. 

A funny thought dawned on me as I thought about "going back": There is no going back. The last three months have pushed me vocationally, challenged me professionally, and made me start dreaming once more. It's hard to turn those voices off.

Although, it's not hard to want to settle into the comfortableness of predictability.  I am beginning to understand why people settle into a pattern for years on end - there is an ease to it.  And even though each year brings its own excitement and unexpectedness by nature of working with college students, I sense a tug out of the easiness.