SEASONAL TIME BENDING

Why be glad it’s light in the morning and dark at night:

Because it’s part of an annual cycle that makes it natural to have by this time consumed all the leftover Halloween candy.

Because understanding why the clock is changed and how that affects the day provides me with reassurance — despite long-ago difficulties with organic chemistry — that I am at one with science.

Because if I arise at dawn’s early light, I have time to iron whatever it is before I put it on.

Because I can go to a 5 p.m. movie without remorse over wasting a sunny afternoon.

Because nobody wears wristwatches anymore, but roosters can’t check the time on their cell phones.

Because by the time you get home from work, it’s too dark to undertake house-maintenance chores.

Because along with the dark season comes rain, reassuring to everyone who invested in rubber rain boots.

Because it’s one step closer to April, when the clocks spring forward again, which will mean, notes Ellen Newman, that baseball season has returned.

Because it’s me who goes around the house resetting all the clocks, an empowering exercise in turning back time.

And because, in keeping with that, I’m relishing having turned one hour younger.