DST - A house divided

"Me on the other hand, I absolutely love, love, love DST. It helps me make it through the winter."

I am very pleased to say that after almost 42 years of marriage, my wife and I get along very, very well. That speaks volumes for her, as being married to an old curmudgeonly Bird is certainly not easy! Now that being said, we have one sort of rough patch we hit every year. No, it is not about food, sex or money - the usual things married couples quibble about. It is about DST - Daylight Savings Time.

To be fair to her, she does not hate DST in totally. It is just that it starts when school is still in session. I think that is a throwback from when she taught school. By the time the mornings got just a wee bit lighter after a hard winter, PRESTO! The mornings were pitch black again. And besides the safety issues of having the kids out in the dark, they were still half asleep when they got to school.

Me on the other hand, I absolutely love, love, love DST. It helps me make it through the winter. I count down the days in February just waiting for that magical day in March. When I worked, I did not give a rip how dark it was in the morning going to work. I was going to work for crying out loud. But coming home was a different story. That was my time once the truck entered the garage. I could do stuff outside before dinner and/or after dinner. My kind of timeline!

Daylight savings is very controversial in the country. Some put the blame for DST on Ben Franklin. Even though old Ben lived years before DST, he is the one that came up with that silly saying, "Early to bed, early to rise." Some doctors feel that losing that hour of sleep can cause heart attacks. Seriously! They say they have proof that the week we spring ahead the number of heart attacks go up!

However, Jimmy Carter put the health risks behind the health of the nation during the 1970's energy crisis. He changed DST to be 10 months a year to save energy. We were after all, in a manmade energy crisis. That did not save any energy, and consequently it did not last long. And the heart attack thing for not getting that extra hour of sleep? If you are worried about it, go to bed at 9 instead of 10.

So here we are. In all the glory of DST. No more cooking steaks early as I need more daylight to cook them right. Now it is evening golf for golfers, evening walks for walkers, and for the rest of us, just enjoying more of the day.

Thank you DST - I missed you! As one of my friends recently said, "Daylight savings - nature's antidepressant!"