I had seriously considered writing a political column this week wondering whether our newly elected president and the Republican controlled Congress would really be able to solve the problems facing the country.

I reconsidered for two reasons: One, after two years of dealing with all the nonsense of the campaigns, I think it’s time we got away from all the punditry and predictions and concentrate on something else like the Brad Pitt-Angelina Jolie divorce.

Two, it will be more fun to raise my issues for the next Congress and the new president after they get sworn and can officially be sworn at.

So now I return to another national issue — daylight savings time.

Unless you spent last week under a rock or living in a hole, you know the traditional time change from daylight savings time to standard time occurred last weekend, meaning we all gained an extra hour of sleep. Or did we? And how many of us forgot to change our clocks and showed up too early for church or that family dinner at mom’s?

But back to that “gain an hour of sleep.” Who came up with that idea? To be perfectly honest with you, despite setting my clock back before I went to bed, I woke up just as groggy Sunday morning as I did when I would go to bed and wake up during daylight savings time. I really didn’t experience any kind of change.

I guess it’s because I was just getting used to daylight savings time when the change came. My eyes were accustomed to getting up and moving around a darkened house looking for the light switch. I had finally stopped stumbling and jamming toes against doorways and dressers.

Then they changed the time.

Now, when I get up, it’s light. I’m safely moving around the house. But my body is still on “DST,” as a watch I have at home calls it.

I look at the clock, which shows 5 o’clock, but it still feels like 6 to me. My stomach starts growling at 11 rather than 12. I get home, eat and rock back in my recliner and “paw-paw’s disease” kicks in at 7 because my body still thinks it’s 8 p.m. daylight savings time. I drag through the house because my body is still operating on what time is was last week instead of the time we moved to on Sunday.

I need some relief.

For some reason, I never seem to get the hang of the time changes, just like my brother, who has been living near Atlanta for the past 30 years has never seemed to get used to eastern time.

So as I sit here yawning and trying to finish this column before returning to issues discussed by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, I’ll express the hope my body will adjust to the time change, as I know it will. Right before we have to move our clocks ahead in March for another daylight savings time.
John Surratt is a staff writer at The Vicksburg Post. You may reach him at John.Surratt@vicksburgpost.com.