Barbara J. Hamby

Time at High Speed

When I picked up my after dinner toothbrush, it seemed as if I’d just put the after-breakfast toothbrush down. Time doesn’t march anymore; it runs at high speed. Minutes, hours, days, weeks and months filled with mostly mundane activities rush by.

Monday I spent several hours going to Portland, meeting with the Kaiser research group and driving back. Tuesday afternoon our critique group of only three members helped me wind together memoir stories.

And today, several hours passed quickly while we ran errands. Getting gas for the car at $2.89 per gallon less the small discount my AAA Visa card provides, stopping at the clinic for flu shots and prescriptions, a trip to the post office and a grocery store. Even though gas prices are dropping, I still prefer to group errands by location. Fortunately, I didn’t bet Floyd any money that we wouldn’t find blackberries. He said, “Everything is available—for a price and this is a high class store.” He was right; they had blackberries—for a price, a high price.

I’m learning to diary all my food consumption and look up the calories. That’s quite a time consuming process, also.

A swim in the afternoon, a stir-fry supper and a long list of emails took up the rest of the day. And now, as the day is fading, so am I.