Old Habits Are Hard to Break - Even for a Week

A notice was sent last week that the yellow door corner entrance to the Madison Building would be closed for repairs. This is the entrance I've used since starting employment at the Library of Congress eight years ago. It is also right across from Capitol South Metro. I forgot about it until I reached the building this morning. It requires an additional walk of one more block to reach the red door entrance. That's not so bad, but everything is in reverse on that side compared to what I am used to. That's not a big deal either. But it still feels weird to do everything in reverse. You walk down un to the building rather than up because of the hill. The police faces were the same, the line started to the right rather than the left. The X-ray machine was a bit touchy - not unusual. When I returned to work after lunch I was already the 2500th person to have passed through since Monday. I put a note on my desk to remind myself to turn left rather than right when I leave. It all sounds foolish to even comment about it. But for these kinds of things I am beginning to feel my age, and every minute counts.