A Pox on Springing Ahead
I’ve got a bone to pick with George Vernon Hudson, the man who first suggested Daylight Savings Time. He made this suggestion, mind you, so he would have more daylight hours in the evening to study bugs. Yup. B.U.G.S.
George Vernon Hudson (Wikipedia)
But I think the night we spring ahead is just about the the worst night of the year.
I hate that night.
It is the night that the “powers that be” punish sleep-deprived mothers in favor of…. well, I am not sure what we are actually supposed to gain from SKIPPING an hour ahead. (See? Just saying that… writing it… feels wrong.)
I know what I gained.
First, my baby is totally thrown off her sleep schedule. Ya know, the one we carefully crafted and molded into something we could all tolerate. Yeah, well that nano-moment of bliss is over.
Next, I am pretty sure I overdosed on caffeine Sunday morning. Resulting in the jitters. Which resulted in a lot of pacing around. Which hurt my foot. So, now I have a hurt foot. Well, to be fair, my foot already hurt. But now it hurts more.
The whole day reached confusing levels when we kept using the terms “body clock” and “actual clock” back and forth in an attempt to decipher what time it really was.
And how should we refer to this day? As a “holiday? Well, as far as holidays go, this day is really lacking. Really, FLAG DAY is better than Spring Ahead day. Even LABOR DAY which is a day dedicated to, well, labor, is better that losing that precious hour. In fact, I am pretty sure this day ranks below NATIONAL CROCHET WEEK and NATIONAL BUBBLE WEEK — which were both last week. I kid you not. In fact, here are a bunch of holidays in the month of March that I am sure I would rather celebrate than losing that precious hour of sleep.
March 1 – National Pig Day. Who doesn’t love bacon?
March 6 – Dentist’s Day (and you all know how I feel about dentists…)
March 9th – Be Nasty Day. This one actually sounds good, if you can pull it off. I pretty much honor this day each morning in the minutes between waking up and my 8th cup of coffee.
March 10 – Middle Name Pride Day. Mine is “Lynn.” Woo-Hoo… Go LYNN!
March 13 – Ear Muff Day, strategically positioned the day BEFORE Spring Ahead.
March 23 – National Chip and Dip Day. Now we’re talking!!!
March 31 – National Bunsen Burner Day. Dave will love this. It’s a chemistry teacher’s dream come true!
But my favorite day, the day I most look forward to (and my husband will attest to this) is the day we FALL BACK. Now, that’s a day I can fall in love with.
I LOVE having the extra hour of daylight, especially in the summer when school is out and the boys stay outside until bed time (wait, did that just sound like I love getting rid of my kids? Well, they are REALLY loud in our tiny house) :) but I am with you, I HATE the actual having to turn the clock back. I am sitting here reading this at 10:20 on the east coast and I am still bleary eyed from not being able to fall asleep in time to get my eight hours last night. :(
Bring on the Chips and Dip next week!
Hi Kari, I so know what you mean. My hubbie always makes fun of me because on the day of springing ahead (and for several days thereafter) I always say what the time “really is”!
great, wise post. I love the sun benefits but hate that first day. I’m always behind on where i need to be. I did embrace it in some ways by barbecuing for the first time last night. Also, Kristi’s middle name is Lynn – she’s on board for that holiday.
OKAY, so I will agree with the extra sunlight thingy.. that IS good.
The first day…not so good. The extra sunlight is yummy goodness. :)
A pox indeed! I had no idea that this was all to study bugs in the evening! Gah! We’re STILL trying to get the boys onto the new schedule!
Completely agree!!!!!!! Springing ahead was always a stupid thing to do and with a baby it’s stupid and actually decreases my quality of life! You don’t really gain anything anyway, the same daylight hours exist… why don’t we just plan our lives to take advantage better rather than this stupid clock change thing?