Numbers

Recently, I've been consumed with numbers, small and large. I guess I'm really no different from anyone else on Earth, except that I've had all this time to think about them when I drive back and forth to Winston-Salem.

I try to let the gas in the car go down as low as I can so I can take advantage of Sheetz's "inexpensive" gasoline. That's a nice oxymoron for our times, since it's $2.88 per gallon. I can remember a time when it was a fraction of that, but barely.

It's 82 miles from Durham to Winston, so the round trip is 164 miles. The odometer on the Subaru has just passed 159,500 miles, most of which we've put on the car.

I just passed 25,000 hits to my myspace blog. That's pretty remarkable, considering what's been written.

In my recent appointment as power-of-attorney for my parents, I'm now looking at their bank statements and such. I will not put their numbers here, as it's not for public consumption, but it's more numbers as well.

I have doctors' phone numbers, bankers and investment counselors, numbers for retirement communities. Senior services from my parents' church. Hospice care. Since I began using my cellular phone, I no longer retain phone numbers in my head very well, except of course for all the numbers of my childhood friends since that's about the last time I've had to remember any.

I play in Charleston on Saturday, but I have to get there early for a strategy session with the other artists. My family has decided to come with me, and they will stay at my wife's cousin's house on Daniel Island. That's another 311 miles. They drive home, I fly to St. Louis for a gig on Sunday, then fly back to Durham. It's on Delta, so I'm checking the number of miles on my Frequent Flyer account as well.

School opened two hours late because of the inclement weather. I have to drive to Chapel Hill to do some studio work this morning with Chris, and I need to be back in time to make supper.

My dad is 95, my mom is 87. I'm 52. Wife is 33. I have kids aged 14, 4 years and 4 months.

Maybe later today I can add up all these numbers and see if it gives me a clue as to why they're all swimming around inside my head. Although I'm not counting on it.