It's definitely a gift to have a 25 hour day, even though technically we're just getting paid back the hour we lost last April when Daylight Savings Time went into effect. Still, I always feel as if I've been granted that most supreme of all gifts - more TIME.
When my son was little, he looked forward to this day with the delight reserved only for Christmas and birthdays. A child always filled with plans and ideas, there were never enough hours in his weekends to complete all the things he wanted to do. He would awake at the crack of dawn on this momentous day, determined to eke every minute possible out of the day with one extra hour in it.
I still love this "fall back" day, even though it gets dark before I've finished putting dinner on the table. I love looking at my watch and feeling pleasantly surprised by how early it is, something that happens with rarer and rarer frequency the older I get. I love the sense of the day being elongated before me, like taffy pulled until it's thin and stringy. I love the freedom of an extra hour to spend, like the twenty dollar bill you find crumpled in the pocket of your winter coat.
So what did I do with my extra hour today? Was it the time I spent walking the dogs on a sunlit, windblown November afternoon? Or the hour I fiddled around with my husband's new guitar, downloading lessons on Garage Band? Maybe it was the hour I spent at my friend's church early this morning, playing in a "pickup" handbell ensemble.
Or maybe it's still to come, as I prepare to pour a glass of wine, light a candle, and settle into the corner of the sofa with my book.
Whatever it is (or was) I've been savoring all the hours of this day. I hope you have too.
How about you? What did you do with your extra hour today?