Listening for Donne's Footfalls

Did you remember to set your clocks and watches back last night? Yeah, "spring forward, fall back" finally arrived and not a moment too soon for some of us. I've always thought Wimpy came up with this back and forth of the clock. "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for some daylight today." Maybe just me, but it's so 'cut six inches off the back of the blanket and sew it on the front and claim the blanket's a foot longer', it's painful.

And at some point in the next couple of days you'll find the one timepiece somewhere you didn't reset and be surprised and a bit chagrined as if you are the only one on earth to whom this has happened. Except you're not alone. I do it every time we do the Time Warp Again (Tim C dreams he could get anywhere near into that outfit these days).

I have a watch that 'automatically knows the date' (says the brochure) but not the day because it's the perpetual calendar model. I think the altar boy in me bought it just for the model name. I have never understood how it tracks the months with their different number of days and compensates. It is uncanny. I've been known to look forward to the end of February just to catch my watch, and Curse Your Black Heart Timex!, foiled again and always.

This might be where my Catholic upbringing comes in handy since I'm comfortable believing in things I can't see and I sure can't see how my watch knows when a Leap Year is and when it's not. (And why aren't all the months the same length in the first place? Thanks, Obama (I'm KIDDING))

Is it possible, do you suppose, to strike a deal with God to save up all these hours we so heedlessly and needlessly fritter away and fret while moving the big hand this way and then that way on the clock and cash them in at, or near the end of our lives? Sort of a rebate or a bonus.

Don't smile. I'm attempting to be serious. I don't do it often so I do it well (or vice versa? I'm never sure about a lot of things) I mean how many of all the hours of our lives have we spent waiting and wishing for time to pass more quickly? Perhaps someone is storing them in a box with our name neatly written in block letters, for future retrieval. It could even be in joined up writing as long as there's no second E in my last name and come to think of it, correct spelling is so overrated.

I can remember when I was eight and a half, and that fraction was so damn important. Neil, next door was still just eight, but I was 'and a half' and Bobby wasn't even eight until the middle of next month. I just realized as I type, I've been 64 and a half for a whole week--could've gone a whole year NOT admitting that, or wanting to.

And now, I'll be quiet and keep half an eye on the doorway, in the event that I'm the next one who is called to the exit. The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say.
-bill kenny