springing forward

There are several signs that spring is on its way. For me, the first of those signs is when the snow begins to melt, revealing the cigarette butts I was too lazy to properly dispose of and I must harvest them to avoid my apartment looking like something out of "My Name is Earl." Second among the signs for me is when we "spring forward" for daylights savings time.

A lot of people like the spring time daylights savings time, but for me it has a very special meaning. Growing up, my mother worked about an hour from where we lived. And for those of you who really know me, I have a really strange (perhaps boardering on inappropriate) relationship with my mother. This daily commute for my mother meant leaving her children before the sun came up and arriving back home after the sun came down during the fall and winter seasons (which are horribly long for those of you not experienced in Michigan weather and seasons).

However, when spring's daylight savings time rolled around mom would arrive back home around 6, and we still had a couple of hours of daylight left to be a family that didn't revolve around homework and the boob tube.

I awoke this morning thinking it was 9:30am according to my alarm clock, but as I checked my blackberry (to delete the daily emails I inevitably receive in the middle of the night), I realized we had sprung forward at 2am. I instantly got a smile on my face and realized that, despite how shitty winter gets every year (and it was pretty shitty this time around), that spring really IS on its way.