Tonight I arrived home from work after 8 p.m., which might have been fine had I been working late, but I left the office at around 5:40. It took me over an hour to go about 4 miles. The total trip from the parking lot at work to my house was 2 hours, 11 minutes and 25 seconds, at least a full hour longer than usual. Now you could say that I signed on for this when I decided to live in Maryland closer to my three sisters than living closer to my job in Virginia, and you would be correct. In making that choice I added a lot of complication to my life. I also added a lot of richness. So while there are a few downsides to my current location relative to work, it can’t be beat relative to family proximity. After many years lamenting about how I lived far away from family and wished I’d had the built in emotional and moral support of having family close by, I am now hanging out with my sisters on a semi-regular basis and am in constant phone and/or text contact. I am most definitely grateful for that.
I am also grateful for the “fall back” that we just took this past weekend, turning our clocks back one hour. I realized a few days ago that part of the reason I’m still tired much of the time is that I “sprung forward” a month ago by three hours. Turning my clocks forward one hour has thrown my body off for years; it always took weeks before my body adjusted to the new time. So I have to think that springing forward by three hours can really throw a body out of whack. Perhaps I’m wrong, but it makes sense to me and offers at least one plausible explanation for why I’ve been dragging around even though I’ve had a month to adjust. The combination of the time shift, the overwhelmingness of moving 2800 miles across the country, starting a new job and all the other changes really are enough to make a person quite tired. And have I ever been. So if regaining an hour helps with this, I’m all for it.
In part as a result of a two-plus hour commute, late dinner, etc. I am already half asleep at my keyboard. I am not going to fight it, either. As much as I would like to continue with a long, pithy exploration of the benefits of gratitude, I find that I am too tired to even keep balancing my laptop on my lap. So I am going to sign off early this evening with the hope that you the reader is spending some time in grateful contemplation of the blessings that you have in your life. As for me, I’m going to spend some time contemplating sleep. Tomorrow, after all, is another day.
