Tag: daylight saving time

Morphing

I fear, as I age, that I am becoming more and more “set in my ways”. This is something that I swore to myself, that I would never become. “Set in my ways.” To me, “getting set in my ways” is as ugly a sign of aging, as the ever increasing age spots that appear to be multiplying on my body at an exponential basis. Two age spots have just appeared on my left hand, I noticed, as I just glanced down at my hands, resting on the keyboard.

Daylight Saving Time (there is officially no “s” after Saving, btw) has thrown me for a big old loop. And this is annoying, because this fall end of Daylight Saving Time, is the one part that I used to actually always like, and to look forward to, but now, I notice that this particular Daylight Saving Time has just made me feel grumble-y. I am kind of annoyed that it is now light outside when I drive my daughter to school. I miss the darkness that helped to camouflage my bedhead, my crooked glasses, and my smeared mascara running down the side of my cheek that is typically more wrinkled than the other side of my face because I sleep on my side, much to the chagrin of my perfectionist dermatologist. The mask is off, and all of my morning imperfections are bared for every sneering, judgmental teenager to see.

Since the clocks fell back, everything feels just not quite right. Everything feels just a little “off.” When I was younger, I think that I just rolled with things a little bit better. Or maybe I wasn’t as perceptive. I didn’t notice as much. Maybe life was more of a blur when I was younger. Maybe I wasn’t quite as introspective and self aware back then. I’m almost 50. I’ve accumulated a lot of moments in life. I’ve learned that change is inevitable and I am not really in control of almost anything. I dropped that delusion a while ago. (well, maybe I still hang on to that illusion of control, here and there, but at least I am now aware that I’m delusional)

I had lunch with a good friend of mine the other day. We have known each other for thirty years. Lately our lunches center around the game of, “Is this normal?” Like, for instance, my hips are achy almost every single night, “Is this normal?” And then when she cops to achy hips, too, I feel sorry for her and greatly relieved, all at the same time. I imagine that if I called her up right now, somewhere in the conversation, I would sneak in, “Daylight Saving Time really messes with me more than ever. Is this normal?” And being a good friend, whether she honestly feels this way or not (although I suspect that she does), she would say, “Oh yes. I hope that the Florida legislature abolishes it soon. It really messes with my circadian rhythms, more than ever. I’m a mess.” And then I would smile with her, knowingly and appreciatively.

Yep, those are the kinds of conversations I have now with my friends. “Never Have I Ever” has morphed into “Is This Normal?” so fluidly, that I’m not even sure, exactly, of the precise moment when the game changed. And change irritates me now more than ever. I feel grumble-y, even after a restful weekend, with an extra hour of sleep. Is this normal?

“Oh, my ways are strange ways and new ways and old ways, And deep ways and steep ways and high ways and low, I’m at home and at ease on a track that I know not, And restless and lost on a road that I know.” – Henry Lawson

Ben’s a Meanie

Ben Franklin, one of our greatest founding fathers, was also an incredible inventor. He invented the lighting rod, swimming fins, street lamps, the odometer and bifocals, among other amazing discoveries. He never patented any of these life-changing inventions, forgoing any profits, as he considered them a gift to humanity. Contrary to belief, Ben Franklin didn’t actually invent “Daylight Saving Time” (by the way, there is no “s” after Saving if you are writing about it correctly – this was news to me, too) but he was a proponent of it. This just proves that nobody’s perfect, not even Benjamin Franklin.

I hate this “spring forward” part of Daylight Saving Time. This will most likely be the grumpiest Monday of the year, for me and my family. Why does losing that extra hour of real sleep feel like I didn’t sleep at all last night? Once again, just after I was getting used to seeing the early morning heartwarming, hopeful sunshine, I had to take my dogs out for their morning release, in the darkest of dark, praying that no alligators had climbed up out from the lake, into our yard hoping for a “Scooby snack.” (or in our case, a “Ralphie or Josie snack”) Undoubtedly, there is some clock in our house or in our cars, that we forgot to change and that will throw us for a loop. That will mean that I’ll be late getting my daughter to tennis practice or I’ll end up at a place of business that is already closed for the day. I’ve already prepared myself for the inevitable time confusion. It’s happened before. It’ll happen again.

Some states have refused to participate in DST. Arizona and Hawaii are looking like really appealing places to live, for me right now. Of course, their citizens will have to start doing the annoyingly confusing time-change math in their heads, if they are setting up web meetings or telephone calls with the rest of us crazies. Did I also mention that Ben Franklin invented the urinary catheter? I think that he may have had a mean streak.