I hate when this happens: I stay up too late on the eve of the fall clock change, and wake up in the dark to attend an early Mass, only to realize that I could have slept an extra hour as the Mass starts an hour later. Luckily I’ll just feel the effects of sleeping in tomorrow instead.
I’m not sure how effective the changes made to daylight savings time by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 have been in actually saving energy. I don’t see how changing the clocks makes much difference in the end, and it probably cost lots of money to study and implement the proposed changes. But there are two things I’m grateful for concerning the change.
On Friday evening, my husband and I took our daughters trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Not only was it a pleasant, balmy evening, but it was light! Ever since I’ve had a child–and my oldest daughter’s first trick-or-treating adventure occurred when she was still newborn–I’ve noticed that the fall backwards time occurred the Sunday before Halloween and that never made sense to me. It assured that all the fairies, princesses, animals, ghosts, Harry Potter characters, and sometimes presidential candidates would all be walking the streets in pictch dark and in most places, freezing. Finally, someone got smart and postponed the time change by a week, and the streets of our small town were filled with happy and warm trick-or-treaters making their rounds. We ventured a little farther than usual, so it was dark by the time we returned home, but it certainly didn’t start off that way.
The other thing I’m thankful for is that the fall time period is shorter. If I could have it my way I’d just leave the clocks on daylight savings time all year because I’d much rather wake up in the dark than be driving home from work at 5pm in the dark. I would prefer to preserve my daylight hours in the evening. However, no one ever consults with me on these decisions. Still, at least they shortened the evening dark time by several weeks.
In this tense time before the election you have to count your blessings, right? This year, if you vote after work, you’ll still be voting in the dark, but at least you got to take your kids out trick-or-treating while it was still light.
