Fall Back

These days I leave for work in the dark, the sun a contusion spreading across the sky through my windshield. After we change the clocks this weekend, I’ll have more sunshine in the morning but by the time I get home from work, it will be inky black outside.

God, you can’t win with this fall back thing. Stupid farmers.

I don’t actually mind early sunsets so much. Summer was fun but I did have my fill. There’s something cozy about the world when you can come home from work and pad around in slippers in the early darkness and eat dinner from a crockpot. It’s not so terrible. I will, however, be disappointed in December when I just barely get to see the sun as I walk to my car. But I can’t miss the warm weather too much. Experience tells me that the winter may be hard but spring will be along as punctual as ever.

I will spend Sunday morning changing whatever clocks do not automatically sync up with Daylight Saving Time. (Is it the beginning or the end? I can never remember.) I always have to know what time it is. I’ve always worn a watch and I need clocks in every room in which I spend any time. If I wake up at night, I always check to see what time it is and how much sleep is left to me.

If you think about it, there are really no excuses today for losing track of time. We have watches, cell phones, computers, time displays on TV, digital and analogue clocks in houses, clocks in cars, radios that announce the time and clocks outside banks and other businesses. Just sitting here I have five devices that display the time. There’s no reason not to know what time it is, unless you’re walking on the beach without your phone or a watch. Even then you still have the sun.