Sunday, November 4, 2018

Bring Back the Sun

I dislike time changes.

It is, right now, 4:58 p.m., but really it's 5:58 p.m.  It is already dusk outside and the cars driving past my window have their headlights on.

When I go to work at 6:40 (7:40?) in the morning, it will be a little brighter than it was last week, but really, I don't mind driving to work in the dark.  That's a small trade for having a little daylight at the end of the day, after work. 

It turns out that we have an entomologist from New Zealand to blame for daylight saving time; he wanted more daylight hours to go bug hunting.  The Germans adopted the practice during WWI, followed by England, and then the United States in 1918 in an attempt to have more daylight working hours.

Maybe it's just winter and shorter days in general that I dislike.  I need sunshine and light.

I find all this darkness depressing. 

Yes, Christmas is nice.  All those Hallmark movies, the twinkly lights on the Christmas tree, the endless commercialization and pressure to buy things... But the older I get I find Christmas to be hard, sort of sad, and I get weepy and nostalgic.

And those long, nasty days of January and February!  They go on forever!  At least with March there is a little hope of a warm day.

Honestly I'd rather have the warm, balmy, long sunny days where I can work in the yard, walk the dog, plant flowers, and read books in the shade of my magnolia tree. 

It feels like I'm bracing for winter right now, hunkering down ready to wait out these long months of darkness until the sun shines again.  Steel gray days, wet with sleet and cold wind; bare trees, low clouds...I know it's not really that bad; there are plenty of beautiful, crisp winter days so beautiful that your heart wants to break, but, well, I'm just not that kind of girl.  I like the sun.

And in just the few moments that it has taken me to type this it is now full dark. 

Can't we just spring forward, already?

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