What Little Daylight

"You said, remember that life is not meant to be wasted
We can always be chasing the sun
So fill up your lungs and just run
But always be chasing the sun"
 - Chasing The Sun, by Sara Bareilles


Here's a funny little thing: I haven't experienced daylight savings in nearly six years, and I find it rudely startling. I've never been a fan of it, because for one, can we mostly all agree it's a hassle? It took me four attempts to change the clock in my car, and waking up on the first morning was an exercise in deciding which clock I trusted and doing basic math on the others. For another thing, does anyone really need it? I get that back in the day, famers wanted daylight to come earlier because early was when they were out in the fields. But that was before electricity. Wouldn't the good farmers of today be alright with deciding on one time we like and sticking with it for the entire year?

I drove home today with plans to go for a run, and from the slow-moving highway I watched in genuine shock and dismay how the sun was rapidly sinking towards the horizon. By the time I got home and changed clothes, it was 6:15pm and dark. I stood beside the window contemplating what to do. I supposed that because of the sun now rising earlier that this could mean running in the morning. However, just the thought of having to get up between 5:30am and 6:00am to run in the cold morning chill made me groan. So instead, I braved the dark.

Normally, I keep my phone in a sleeve on my arm, but today, for the first time I can remember, I forgot it. Having my phone in my hand became helpful when the path became too dark to see and I needed to quickly switch on a flashlight. The bright built-in beam was perfect; it was an easy 2-mile run, and though it was dark it was still early enough that plenty of other runners/walkers/dogs and owners were out enjoying the cool air. I was careful to be safe and returned home glad to still be able to run after work, though still flummoxed that the sun really set that early.

I told my sister how unsettling the change was after having been away from it for so long. She replied that it annoyed her as well: as a photographer, the shift in daylight means fewer afternoon and evening shoots this time of year. People who would schedule something after work suddenly can't. It was nice to know I wasn't the only one who is a bit thrown by the situation.

Robert Lewis Stevenson penned the poem "Bed In Summer" from the perspective of a child who rhymes of the injustice of having to go to bed during long summertime daylight hours. Dear heart, I hear you ... but the other way around.