More Time To Waste

Lately I've noticed I have more time. I'm not doing anything particularly special or useful with it but it's strange and wonderful to have it. I can actually allow myself to relax a little more and watch a movie or wander around outside. This extra time is the result of two losses and one gain. I used to drive two hours to St. Louis every other Tuesday to take my mom to the beauty shop. She had her hair done by Sandy for nearly 40 years (mom was 81 when she died last September). Eleanor had a few wisps of her own hair, the result of relentlessly teasing it throughout the 1970s. I marveled at Sandy's ability to weave a little hairpiece into my mom's sad strands and create a huge bouffant crown of hair. At first I resented those Tuesday command performances but soon I got used to the routine and appreciated being able to schedule appointments, see friends and go shopping. Besides the Tuesdays I was busy with mom's frequent doctor appointments and hospital stays and of course trips to Dierberg's to keep her pantry and refrigerator stocked.
Another loss was my dachshund Frankie, my "special needs" dog who was 99 percent blind and diabetic, which required two daily insulin shots. Somehow Frankie got himself into a routine in which he was served his breakfast at 2 a.m. Most of the time Jerry got up with him but I did my share. We couldn't toss Frankie outside on his own because of his blindness--he occasionally ended up in the pond and once disappeared into the woods for several hours (miraculously Jerry found him sleeping under a tree). Despite his conditions he was fairly self-sufficient but still needed a lot of looking-after. It all caught up with him last August, just before his 14th birthday.
The gain is the election of President Barack Obama. During the campaign I admit I was addicted to political blogs and spent way too much time devouring them. I'd get outraged over Republican nonsense about every 15 minutes. It was very tiring but compelling and I could not stop. Now I visit a few blogs but it's nothing like before. Obama won and even though I don't and won't like everything he does, in most ways I can relax.
Eleanor, Frankie and Barack Obama--thank you for the time. I'll try not to waste too much of it.