Oh, There You Are Time Change. I Didn't Miss You.

As usual, time change snuck up on me. It always does. When I was growing up we leapt forward in late April and fell back in early October. Now that we leap forward in mid-March and fall back in early November is feels like daylight saving time is endless and there isn't enough time between the two time shifts.

Let me just make this perfectly plain: I hate daylight saving time. I hate jumping forward, I hate that it's light so late in high summer, I hate falling back.

Why, you ask? How could I possibly hate more sunshine in the summer or an extra hour of sleep in the fall?

Well, I'll tell you. The extra hours of light in the summer time make it difficult to get the kids to go to bed. I can even remember as a kid not being able to sleep because it was so light out when I went to bed. It also means that things that must take place after dark, fireworks for example, start that much later. 10 pm for the fireworks show? My kids'll be in high school before they ever see one. It's so far after bedtime that I can't even begin to keep them up that late. Not to mention that it's 11 pm when the cul-de-sac in front of my house turns into downtown Beirut on the Fourth.

In the fall, you'd think that the extra hour of sleep would come in handy. And indeed, it can. But the children already get up around 6:30 am. When we hit fall time change, they hit the floor no later than 5:30 am and will. not. go back to sleep. There is not enough coffee in the world to deal with that.

The adjustment itself is enough to drive a saint to guzzle booze. Liam was one salty little kid yesterday. Arguments all day over the smallest of things. Time spent in his room. Crying. Tantrums. Rudeness and sass at every turn.

Jamie was like a limp dishrag by bedtime last night. Sleeping late in the morning meant the loss of his morning nap. His afternoon nap was a farce and I can't be sure how much sleep he actually got. He slept late again this morning which, again, meant the loss of his morning nap. When it came time for afternoon nap I asked him if was ready and he got up and ran to the stairs. Talk about amazing - when was the last time you saw a 1 year old running toward nap time?

There is no real need for this time shift we go through twice a year. Maybe, once upon a time, it was helpful to farmers. But that isn't the case anymore and it would be really great if we could move along into the 21st century and drop this ridiculous farce.

Who's with me? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?