An Extra Hour

I have never understood why we change our clocks twice per year. People go on and on about how it saves electricity and is better for the farmers... I still don't get it. There is the same amount of light available during the day whether we call it 4pm or 3pm. Animals and plants respond to the sunlight available, not the time on the clock. It is ridiculous.

If we have to do this every year, I'm glad for this day - FALL BACK DAY! There is a luxury in having an extra hour to take care of work, play, and other pursuits of happiness. Today, for example, I woke up at a unknown time (but well before the light clicked on at 3:25am. I enjoyed the opportunity to stay in bed for an extra hour before arising to feed the cat, answer emails, and blog. Now, I have lots of time before leaving my place to go to my Sunday morning job. I am ready to go now, but I have more time! What a luxury that I wish I had all the time!

Today I am choosing to use my extra hour for music therapy work - correspondence with members of the organizing committee for the Online Conference for Music Therapy (coming up on February 7-8, 2014), blogging here, advertising the next webinar (Make It with MJ: An Organized Space for Music Therapy.November 7, 2013 - 8pm Eastern/7pm Central/6pm Mountain/5pm Western-Use the following link to register: http://www.anymeeting.com/PIID=E959D787824B31), and organizing the rest of the day so I can be ready for this webinar on Thursday.

This extra hour affects our clients, maybe more than any of the rest of us. Time is an abstract concept that is not easily understood by folks with limited cognitive ability, like my kids. Falling back is easier on them than springing forward, but they will awaken at the same time regardless of what the clock says. Since it takes 21 days to make or break a habit, the next three weeks will be a mix of well-rested kids and kids who need to be entertained for another hour before going to school or going home. It will take some time to get into a new time routine, and it is difficult to explain why waiting has to occur to folks who do not wait well to begin with...

For today, however, I'm going to luxuriate in this extra hour. Tomorrow I will start to explain what is going on to my kids... 

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