employablog

For a long time I scoffed at the idea of Daylight Savings. Or, more precisely, at the idea of going off of Daylight Savings. If saving daylight is the goal, shouldn’t we keep it all year long?

But now, the time at which the sun sets is really not that important to me: I will be in the office whether the sun goes down at 4pm (as it will shortly be doing here in Boston), at 5pm, at 6pm, at 7pm and most likely at 8pm too. For the first time in my life, the time at which the sun rises is more important.

The only chance I have to experience actual daylight is in the mornings, before work, when I decide to go for a run. This had been progressively more and more difficult as sunrise kept creeping later and later. The ranks of the morning joggers had been dwindling, the layers of clothing required increasing.

But now that we aren’t saving daylight anymore, I have a chance. When the alarm goes off at 6:30, the sun is just peaking over the harbor, ready to softly light the paths along the Esplanade of the Charles River with a faded and cool yellow-blue glow that is the daily secret of the ambitious young professionals who meet there to fight the wind, cold and quiet to reclaim some daylight.

At the very least, the end of daylight savings has delayed my inevitable purchase of an over-priced and under-used gym membership for at least four weeks. And for that, daylight savings time, I salute you. And I owe you $85.