Are you as confused as I am when the time comes to “Spring Forward” into Daylight Saving Time?

Even the name is confusing. I always thought it was “Savings,” but according to webexhibits.org, there is no “s” at the end. The website’s author provides a sound grammatical reason, but even with my years of teaching college English telling me I should embrace the no-S nomenclature, I still think it’s just plain weird.

We used to make the switch in April. That was OK, even though wounded bears have nothing on my mood when I lose an hour (no ’s) of sleep. And I would ALWAYS lose sleep. Who in her right mind would actually go to bed an hour sooner just because the Clock Fairy would come and swipe an hour ‘long about 2:00 am? But at least in April, the new “Rise and Shine” time for most folks still involved a modest degree of daylight!

This year, Daylight Saving Time begins at 2:00 am (check your own time zones) on Sunday, March 11. In other words, I will celebrate a Daylight Saving Birthday (on March 12). To that, I can only say, “Humbug!”

The reasoning behind this, of course, is not to “save daylight.” Instead, we are supposed to save energy. What I suspect we are really saving are jobs at the Department of Energy, who will study the early DST impact and report to Congress. Here’s a prediction for the bean counters: All those earlier morning showers with all those extra lights on in the house won’t add up to a whole lot of saved kilowatts!

I always feel a little cheated by the onset of Daylight Saving Time. What if I don’t make it to October (oops — November this year!) to get that hour back? Oh, sure, I enjoy those long summer evenings, but then again, I’ve never had to fight with an eight-year-old over going to bed while he can still see his shadow. The kid doesn’t get to save much daylight, now, does he?

And so, knowing that, come my birthday, I’ll already be one more hour behind myself, I’ll dutifully go and buy fresh batteries for my smoke detectors. And I’ll dream longingly for the return of that precious hour when saving daylight, or energy, or whatever becomes irrelevant, just before Thanksgiving.