Sunday, November 02, 2008

a matter of time...

It was nice to wake this morning and see the sun beginning to light the lake, for the past few weeks, we have been starting our day in the dark (and that makes it very hard to get rolling in the morning!!!)... course, having "early daylight" meant barn chores this evening were in the dark!!! And until December 21, the days will continue to be shorter and shorter.... ah well, "tis the season".

Turning the clocks back last night made me think of two stories from my childhood. My Dad repairs clocks, it began as a hobby nearly 40 years ago, and over the years has grown into a very successful business. As a child, there were always clocks in our house... literally hundreds of them.. and it wasn't unusual to have 50 or more running at the same time. Funny how you get used to things, because we never heard them ticking and seldom noticed them striking the hour, but you can be sure our friends did!!! Once someone commented on it, I could "hear" them, but soon the sound would fade into the back ground once again.

Now, living with so many clocks, one thing we never got away with was "being late for curfew".. my parents were VERY strict about curfew and if they said, "be in by 11:00" what they really meant was "be in by 10:45"!!! We knew the rules, and knew we into trouble if we didn't adhere to them.

Well, one night (actually it was in the spring when the clocks "spring ahead") I was out on a date, and pulled into the drive about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. Knowing that I was "safe" my date and I sat out in the driveway and talked for a little longer, and then about two minutes before curfew, I said good night and rushed into the house. The first clock I saw made me gasp!!!! I thought I was coming in at midnight and this clock said it was 1:00 AM!!! It had to be wrong, so I checked another and another...all read 1:00 AM... OH NO... I crept up the hallway, and my Dad (still awake) said.... "is that you?" I answered yes... "OK then, I'll talk with you in the morning"....great, I was in big trouble. I stayed up nearly the whole night, trying to think where I had lost that hour.... did my date's clock in his truck break or something... I just couldn't figure it out. The next morning I was tired and cranky and ready to hear whatever my "punishment" would be. I sat down for breakfast and my Dad asked all sorts of questions about my evening..... then my Mom came to the table with her coffee and said... "it took your Dad about a half hour last night to put all the clocks ahead".... ahead???? "you know we're back on daylight savings time, don't you" she asked me. NO.. I had totally forgot... and lost a night of sleep worrying!!!!!

The second story was when my folks forgot to set the clocks back. We lived very close to our church and my sisters and I could walk to Sunday school. So, my Mom had us up bright and early, dressed for church, and over we went... only to find out that no one was there!!! We hung around for abit and then walked back home..."Mom is it really Sunday" we asked "there isn't anyone at church!!" and it was then she realized that the clocks had "fallen back"... but we hadn't.

But last night, Ed and I got it right and set the clocks back.. everyone said.. You get an extra hour tonite, but I didn't see any extra hour today!!!! It zipped by and as I sit for a minute on the computer I have to wonder where another day has gone.