The weekend before I left for the Dominican Republic we changed our clocks back to "Standard Time." Of course, "Standard Time" is now in effect for fewer weeks in the year than "Daylight Saving Time." So obviously, it is not the standard time any more. But I digress.
We set the clocks back in the wee hours of Sunday morning November 4th. Monday night, the 5th, I stayed at a hotel near JFK, and Tuesday morning, the 6th, I flew to Santo Domingo. The Dominican Republic is on "Atlantic Time," which is an hour ahead of "Eastern Time." I came home this past Monday, and my body clock is totally confused. It always takes time for me to adjust to the time change, but to go to another time zone immediately after changing the clocks and then returning two weeks later...
Since I was off last week, this evening was the first time I came home from the office in the dark. In fact, it was nearly dark when I left the office. In another week or so it will be completely dark when I leave the office. It is just dawn when I left for work this morning.
Dark. Dark. Dark. My mother combats the darkness by setting timers on several lamps, which she calls her "dawn lights." Her room gets gradually brighter until her alarm goes off, and she gets up in light. I just get up with the alarm clock and curse the darkness. I cannot imagine what it would be like living any further north.
Yet in less than a month we will mark the Winter Solstice, and the days will start getting longer. By that time my body will have reset itself to the artificial time change we mark on our clocks. At least until we change them again in the Spring...
Peace,
Jeffri
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