Have you ever had something taken from you and it upset you to the point that it literally ruined your life for a short time? And to make it worse, it didn’t look like you were going to ever get it back? I know that feeling all too well.
It happens every year around this time. I get an hour taken away from me and it makes me miserable for quite a long time. Now, fortunately, I’ve been able to always get it back. But this year... I may not. That one hour may forever be gone.
“What’s the big deal?” you may ask. It’s only an hour. Do you know what you can do with an hour?
First and foremost, you can catch up on sleep. Now, you will wake up and, while you were sleeping, you lost an hour. SO not fair. If I had an extra hour (or at least, had my same hour that is getting taken away), I could...
Take a long walk, get a pedicure, organize my closet, try a new recipe, balance my checkbook, clean out the refrigerator, organize my pantry, watch the sunset, take a nice drive with the windows down, go to the library... the list goes on and on.
Now, I know what you’re probably thinking: “You can do those things NOW?” Well, OK, if we’re going to get technical about it, you’re right; I could. In fact, I plan to do a lot of those things this coming week since we are out for Spring Break.
BUT... I just feel cheated every year when I lose that hour. It’s kind of like when you bake a cake and enjoy slice after slice until it gets down to one slice left... and someone else eats it! It’s gone! You wanted it! You had made plans that included when you were going to eat that cake, daydreamed about how great it was going to be and then... it’s taken away. OK, you can bake another cake. And, normally, in the fall, I get that hour back.
However, this year, if things go the way they are supposed to, we will NOT “fall back” in November. We will just stay on daylight savings time. Period. So my stolen hour will be gone forever.
As I sit and ponder this, my mind began to think about all the wonderful things that I have always enjoyed AFTER I get over losing that hour.
Staying outside longer because the days are longer, enjoying seeing kids playing outside, staying awake longer (let’s face it, in the winter, when it gets dark around 5:40 p.m., I’m ready for bed at 7 p.m.)
I could go on and on. The problem is, I don’t always fully utilize the time I have. At the end of a day or a week, I usually look back and think about all the things I “shoulda/coulda/woulda” done.
My dad is a great example of living by faith and living a life of “mind over matter.” So, perhaps, it’s time for me to let go of losing this sweet, precious hour and make the most of the hours I have instead of dwelling on the hour I lost.
If you’re like we are, we set our clocks forward before we go to bed on Saturday night. It’s a real kick in the pants to head to bed at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night, only to realize it’s already 10:30 p.m. UGH!
If I don’t get my hour back in the fall, I’m sure, by then, I will be fine. I will have moved on, enjoyed all that life has to offer, and I will have found something else to complain about. Don’t we always find something to complain about? C’est la vie!