Published November 2, 2019

Time-change time of year usually inspires words from me, whether in a blog post, a tweet or in some other corner of the internet. As I am on a break from social media until further notice, I thought I’d dust off the blog and revisit some fall-backs from falls past.

More than a decade ago, I wrote this on a since-shuttered blog:

Were you an hour early for church today? Brunch? Coffee with a friend? Maybe you forgot to set your clock back one hour before bedtime last night.

Your computer took care of its clock for you, probably. Maybe your cable box did the same, and your cell phone, and your caller I.D. I’m guessing you still had to change the time on your watch, your microwave, your stove, alarm clock and car stereo.

My big wall clock is analog, and it picks up a signal from the national atomic clock in, I think, Colorado. Twice a year it adjusts — for standard time or daylight time — and its hands spin around and around at the appropriate switching time, around and around and around, until … they … settle in on the correct time. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …. tick … tick … tick. It’s very cool.

I’ve invited someone to stay up all night with me and watch it happen. She said it sounds like fun. Yes, we’re dorks. We admit it.

I told her one of my favorite Garrison Keillor stories, about an elderly woman whose husband has died since the last time change. With another coming up, she stresses about making sure she doesn’t forget — and whether she can stay up until 2 a.m. to make the switch. She drinks coffee and sits alone in her house, and of course it’s a sad, sweet story because she doesn’t realize she could just adjust her clocks before going to sleep.

For those of you afraid of the dark, it will come sooner today.

This paragraph jumped out at me:

Your computer took care of its clock for you, probably. Maybe your cable box did the same, and your cell phone, and your caller I.D. I’m guessing you still had to change the time on your watch, your microwave, your stove, alarm clock and car stereo.

Where I work, we now write cellphone as one word. Caller ID would be written without periods, and — without a landline — I no longer have that version with cables going this way and that way. My iPhone has Caller ID, but I’m sure you know not to believe everything it says.

Smartphones are not the only devices smart enough to handle the end of daylight saving time. The cute vintage-style microwave I now have doesn’t even have a clock, but I’m sure there are microwaves, stoves, alarm clocks and car stereos that make the switch for you, or at least there’s some gadget that manages most or all of those for some of you.

My dad, who died in 1980 (Nov. 1, to be exact), would have been fascinated by all of these technological advances. When, in the late ’70s, we got an automatic garage door opener with remotes, I thought he might wear it out on the first day, showing it off for us (and, no matter how many times he did it, for himself, I suspect).

The day before I wrote the blog post featured above, my annual reminder post had the title “Set your clock one Auerbach” as a tribute to — well, if the name doesn’t mean anything to you, an explanation might not do much for you, either. In lieu of one, here’s a Boston Globe link I provided in my 2006 post.

And, apparently, the day before my the-day-before-the-time-change post, the Weekend Update duo on SNL fired up victory cigars in tribute to Red Auerbach, who’d died earlier that day.

My ex-wife told me about the Garrison Keillor story, and somehow, despite having quite the collection of Lake Wobegone stories, I’ve never actually heard it. My ex tells it so well, I feel like I’ve heard it in the voice of its creator. One of these days I’ll find his version.

To the handful of people who are reading this on the day of its publication, don’t forget to fall back tonight. Just remember that you don’t have to stay up until 2 a.m. to do so.

But if you do, there’s an old woman keeping you company in a world of characters real and imaginary.

?

I’m talking about me.

Featured image by Freepik