I love the “fall back” part of daylight savings time. An extra hour of sleep is always welcoming to my constantly exhausted, but exciting life! The only thing I don’t like is losing the light so early in the evening. Darkness is really too much for 6:00 PM.
Since I am not a morning person, I don’t care when the sun rises. I certainly don’t rise when the sun does. About the only time I look for the sunrise is while vacationing at the beach. I do love the magic of the sun peaking up above the ocean. I also saw quite a few sunrises when my children were babies. Occasionally now, I’ll be awake for a sunrise because my current “baby” – Mom – needs me. Otherwise, I’ll be oblivious to it.
At the end of the daylight, however, I will pursue a sunset. If I have the time, I’ll follow the sun to get just the right angle – especially if I can get Mount Yonah, a local landmark just west of Clarkesville, in the picture. Currently, I have more sunset photos in my phone than any other single subject. We’ve had some spectacular sunsets this fall and I think I’ve been able to enjoy almost all of them.
Mom is now oblivious to the sunrise and sunset. Since she is housebound, it’s probably been years since she’s witnessed either one. However, she was my tracker when we would go out shopping together many years ago. Because of her keen eye, I know where all the good spots for observing the sunset at different times of the year. I can race to a particular spot to catch the perfect view, knowing exactly where to stand to get the best picture.
She was a night owl, too. I’m not sure she ever volunteered for morning school drop-off, but she was always the afternoon transport. Her schedule, like my preferred times, started around 9ish in the morning and wound up around 11 or 12 midnight. In many ways, her waking and sleeping is still similar. Although she’ll sleep longer many days, her most alert times are late morning and late evening.
Dad is quite the opposite. He loves to rise early and the family joke is his clothes fall off at 9:30 PM. He is awake early to do his morning exercises and devotional. He was thrilled on Sunday morning to have the sun rising as he was getting up. Such a strange man!
Of course, the hardest part of daylight savings time is adjusting our bodies to the new schedule. Each fall, I vow to embrace the new time and go to bed earlier and arise at an hour typical of most people. Maybe this will be my year. Goodnight.
