I got the call from Zack at 6:30PM or so. He has decided to nominate the first day after Daylight’s Savings as the best day of the year.
So I’ve been thinking about this… perhaps aided by some liquid refreshment I enjoyed last night while watching the Tar Heels put away the Fighting Illini.
Zack said that it felt glorious to get off work and be able to see blue sky and the sun (well… maybe not see the sun; but know that it hadn’t slipped below the horizon yet).
Yeah, I feel that, too. It’s not merely the snow of winter, nor the cold temperatures that is oppressive… it’s the lack of daylight. Let’s not forget, Sweden… the Land of Long Winter Nights… the Land that has given us Volvos, Blondes, Alfred Noble & Absolut also has the highest suicide rate (and they don’t kill themselves because they see too many Blondes!).
OK… I love the change of clock… even if it means giving up an hour of sack time. I like the idea of firing up the grill and cooking without a flashlight. But the Best Day of the Year?
Somewhere between Wild Turkey #1 and Wild Turkey #2 I put this idea into play.
I mean… what about other great days… you know, your Birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving, St. Patrick’s Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Purim (for you heathen out there, this is a small Jewish Festival which features kids getting dressed in one of three costumes, and where adults are actually encouraged to drink… Jewish Mothers keep this latter detail a secret until you’re at least 35), Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Millard Fillmore’s Birthday.
Lots of special days in the calendar.
But I’ve been thinking… as I have more days in back of me than ahead of me… that many of those special days get tangled in what was, rather than what is. There is a bitter sweetness that can enter into those days. Our memories blend older pictures with more current ones. And while there is no denying our present joy; that joy is experienced thru the prism of our past. And those special days acquire a beauty that is tinged by the sweet recollections of the celebrations that were.
Sometimes these recollections can be a mental anchor… not allowing us to enjoy that Special Day. Maybe Swedes kill themselves because nobody honors their Birthdays as they once did? And if you suffer with that… let this be a blanket Happy Birthday to you! (do you feel better?)
So that brings us back to the Monday-after-we-change-the-clocks-to-Daylight-Savings-Time. This is not dependent on anything else. We don’t have special weather needs (Opening Day at Yankee Stadium can be great; but you can freeze your balls off & that’s no fun). No special foods or drinks (OK you can’t win them all… I love any Day that has eating and drinking as a part of the Celebration).
No. It’s just a day… a day to rejuvenate our spirit. A day when, if we work in the Concrete Canyons of NYC, we emerge from our work, look to the sky and see blue… even if there is still a bite to the air, we are revived by the simplest of pleasures… it is still light. We walk with a crispness to our step, there is a smile on our face… Spring if not here, will soon be… trees will be in bud, the earth softens, lawns become green, the seashore beckons… and the Monday after we move the clocks ahead, puts these wonderful thoughts into being…
We don’t have to consider anything else… nothing to be disappointed in… it is indeed a special day.
I’m with you Zack… Yesterday was the Best Day of the Year. (and a runner-up would be the Day we move the Clocks back; but that’s a story for a different day).
Bravo, Zack.