I get it now

Sunset was at 5:22pm Tuesday evening.

It was dark, inky black dark before 6pm.

I am not a fan of daylight savings time because changing the clocks does not change the amount of daylight we get per day. Historically my dislike stems from how slowly my body adjusts to the time change, especially in the spring. And the older I get, the longer the adjustment takes.

I've heard people bemoan, with a vengeance, their dislike of how early it gets dark once time changes in the fall, but I have never really been affected in a negative way.

Until this fall.

I don't what's changed, but I've been much more aware of the shorter daylight hours. I've felt the darkness creeping up to steal away the last few rays of sunshine.

And I get it now.

The dislike.

The dread.

We have another six weeks of losing minutes of light daily.

I'm looking forward to Dec. 22 when this trend starts climbing the other direction.

I'll be praying with deeper empathy for Deborah and her family (and others) who live far enough north that to have my daylight hours, even on the shortest days, would be a blessing. I felt like it was well past bedtime at 6:13 pm!