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Gas costs squeeze daily life

USAToday headlines on May 9. But only for some. I'm retired, so gasoline price increases affect my leisure, hobbies, relationships and service opportunities, and increasingly my food costs, energy costs and anything that's moved by truck drivers. But not so much my cost to get my check, which is a fixed amount. Indirectly, it is reflected on my investments which I will need later on.

Some retirees know what's important--and that an extra dollar per gallon is worth it to. . . see art. It would be more painful not to have art in your life than to have high gasoline prices.

On Monday our friend, a member of several local art activities here in Columbus, noticed he was running out of time to see the Winslow Homer and Edward Hopper exhibits at the Chicago Institute of Art. His wife is a cancer survivor and they've recently lost a dear friend of 50 years--so in a sense, I think they feel that time is short in many ways. So he and his wife drove to Chicago (300 miles). On Tuesday they took in the Robie House and all the great walking tour stuff (Oak Park) of Frank Lloyd Wright, and on Wednesday they stood in line at the Art Institute to get in to the exhibit, and spent another four hours touring. On Thursday they drove back to Columbus. Counting the tickets, housing and food, I'm sure the gasoline was a minor cost.

But oh, I wish I'd thought of that!