THE YOLK'S ON ME.....

 DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME....

I've always had this kind of interesting relationship with Daylight Savings Time.  It wasn't part of our summer landscape while I was growing up in south-central Wyoming.  So, it seemed kind of mysterious and the provenance of big cities on the East Coast. 

Colorado jumped on the band wagon sometime before I went to college because that first summer between school years I worked as a hostess at a local well-known restaurant along Highway 30.  There were a lot of tourists who had started out in Denver in the morning and were wanting lunch at 10:30 am at Adams Restaurant.  The cooks didn't begin preparing lunch items until 11:30, so we often had disgruntled patrons who had to wait for lunch--or  make do with a second breakfast if they were in a hurry on their cross-country journey.  I worked at that restaurant during the summer of 1965 BEFORE Daylight Savings Time.

Even though the idea of DST has been around since Benjamin Franklin, it was also proposed by someone pre-1900 who wanted more "bug-finding time on summer evenings".  It wasn't formally adopted until the First World War when Germany put it in place in 1916. Most of Europe followed with the United States joining in for a short period.

DST was reintroduced in the USA during he Second World War, but from 1945 to 1966 there were no uniform rules in this country. That caused wide-spread confusion, especially for trains, buses, and the broadcasting industry.  Shocker! The Uniform Time Act of 1966 was finally established granting US states the ability to opt out of DST if they wanted.  (Arizona, and Hawaii still do.)  At the time of the standardization of DST, the change took place on the last Sunday in April and changed back to regular time on the last Sunday in October.

Perhaps my next encounter with DST was the day my oldest son Harold was born. His birth day was the day of the time change back to standard time that year. His birth certificate says he was born at 5:36, October 26, 1969.  But at the minute he was born, the recording nurse wasn't sure if the clocks in the hospital had already been set back one hour, or if those clocks in the delivery room were still on daylight saving time.  I'm guessing Harold could be one hour older or one hour younger than that official time.  Doesn't matter now....

The next big event in my life with DST was in 1973 during the oil embargo.  That was when Congress enacted a trial period of year-round DST beginning January 1974 and ending April 1975.  I LOVED IT!  I never minded getting up early  anyway, and that extra hour before the kids--toddlers Harold and Brice--got up meant I could clean the whole house (including vacuuming under their beds) while they were still asleep.  That lengthened out my day so I could march down into the basement to sew drapes even earlier.  Too bad that trial period didn't seem to bring about any cost savings.  It was scrapped.  I was sorry to see it end.

Fast forward a few years to our time living in Sweden.  No one told us--and we didn't think to ask--about daylight savings time.  Whoops!  We just assumed the whole world did it the same way we did it in the United States.  One Sunday morning when we arrived at church after we had moved there, one of the missionaries remarked that it was the first time the Nichols Family had been to Church on time.  

Turns out that most of Europe's DST at that time happened from September 15th to March 15th

Sadly that Elder's comment was probably more truth than a joke.  Getting ready for Church with a lot of kids in a foreign country with the chapel quite a distance from our house was like mating elephants...done on a grand scale with a lot of effort.  To be fair to the Nichols Family though, we often picked up ward members along the way which added an even more challenging dimension to arriving at Church on time.

We managed DST pretty well after that.  However, when I began flying for United Airlines, I came to really HATE that clock changeover if I were out on a trip.  I was always glad if I happened to be at home during the time switch.  That alleviated the possibility of getting myself to the airport too early or too late.  

There was one memorable experience in Chicago.  It was during the short period we also flew into Midway Airport.  It was there that my layover was very brief and my pick-up was early, early morning.  "O'dark hundred", as we used to say.  Before I set my alarm clock to go to bed, I called the front desk.  "Does the hotel change all the clocks over automatically, or should I set my clock ahead an hour myself?"  The desk clerk assured me it would be wise to set the clock myself.  I did.  And I was ready and waiting for the hotel van to take us back to the airport TWO hours early.  It seems that inspite of the reassurance given by the desk clerk, the hotel clocks were indeed automatically set according to the plan at 2 am.  Hence my hour ahead and the hotel's hour ahead!  Double Whammy!

After that--and if I were on a trip--I would make myself wake up in the wee hours to check my phone which I KNEW had an automatic update.  THEN I would set my alarm!

In the years since then, I have scrupulously changed ALL the clocks in the house BEFORE going to bed on the eve of the time change--winter or summer.  Never got in trouble with that.  And I didn't have to scramble to make up for that lost 60 minutes after I got up in the Spring when we jumped an hour ahead .

Until now...  

I went to bed last night forgetting to turn the clocks an hour ahead.  I woke with a start about 1:30 am and realized that it was really about 2:30 am.  I looked at my phone to make sure all was well with the time.  The screen's glow showed 1:37 am. But because it was before 2 am, I figured I was too early for that auto update.

At that point I set only my alarm clock ahead and went back to sleep.  The next time I opened my eyes, it was 6:23 am.  I had wanted to go on my walk before 6 am, so I was itrritated that I had been so forgetful and would have to stare at yesterday's time when I go home from my walk, then scramble to get ready for Church.

Only, when I went out into the kitchen, my phone said 5:23.  WHAT!?!?!  And then it dawned on me.  Not THIS week....NEXT week!  I felt foolish for my mistake.  

I had been telling myself the time change was this weekend, though nothing had been said about it online, or in our meeting last night for stake conference.  Still I was adamant I knew what was going on.  Imagine my relief when no one was privy to my stupid mistake--not even Louis.  So, I just pretended my heart hadn't been in my throat, that I hadn't forgotten to turn the clocks one hour ahead, and that I hadn't convinced myself it was time to spring forward without checking for truth.

Well, I have six months before I will be able to prove I can safely navigate the "difficult" DST routine once again.  But in the meantime, I have...

Egg on my face for sure because the yolk's on me.....