Several years ago Annamarie and I left the confines of our home and headed for a warmer climate so we could thaw out for a few weeks. All well and good. We left Illinois on February 19th, at which time it was still Central Standard Time.
Along the way we crossed into the Eastern Standard Time zone, which means we lose an hour, so when the clock now says itâs 4 P.M., my body still thinks itâs 3 P.M., which I guess isnât that big of a deal.
Now we pass the time for a few days, and suddenly we switch to daylight saving time losing another hour, screwing with my body and now beginning to mess with my mind. So when the Eastern Daylight savings time clock says 5:00 P.M., my body is still at 3:00 P.M.
That may be ok for lots of folks, but when you are a senior and dealing with sleeping issues, suddenly you are in some kind of trouble. Understand that a normal night for someone like me is to awaken at 3:00 A.M., toss and turn for a bit, then get up because sleep is impossible. I crawl out of bed and try mightily to kill a couple of hours until a degree of tiredness begins to return, at that point a couple more hours of sleep is a possibility, so I return to bed, where the dog has taken over my space, and we wrestle for a few minutes before I can actually settle in.
Now, with the muddled time situation things get a little hairy. Mental anguish and confusion begin to settle in and suddenly my mind says, âOk, you are going to wake up at 3:00A.M.,â which is actually 1:00 A.M, or is it? If itâs 3:00 A.M. on the clock itâs actually 1:00 A.M. by my bodyâs schedule, which means I am now getting out of bed shortly after getting into it.
On the other hand if I wait until the clock says 5:00 A.M. to get up, that would be 3:00 A.M. by my bodyâs time, but that doesnât work, because 5:00 A.M. is the time I usually head back to bed after getting up at 3:00.
It all came to a head one morning as I waited until the clock said 5:00 A.M. to get up, and as I walked through the bedroom door, I bumped into myself coming back to bed, as I must have gotten up at 3:00 without knowing it.
As an aside the Mrs. awakened by the commotion, propped open one eye, saw us both and asked, âWhich one of you has the checkbook and credit cards?â
