Morning After Blues, Epitaphs, and the Moon

It's the morning after.

No, not the morning after a big celebration, in which your head pounds, your mouth feels like the troops have marched through, and every noise sounds like a cannon going off next to your head.

(Note: I describe these symptoms from the testimony of others. As one of my biggest fears is being out of control of what I say and do, I have never allowed myself to become intoxicated or ingest recreational pharmaceuticals. I have been given to understand that the above is an approximation of how you feel the morning after doing these things, and it does not sound like the "fun" you supposedly had is worth that price anyway.)

Nor is it the morning after letting the kids have a big sleepover. There are not 6-8 kids draped over the couches, chairs, and in sleeping bags on the floors of two or more rooms, with evidence of late night shenanigans strewn everywhere.

Not the morning after a holiday feast, with a refrigerator groaning under the weight of leftovers, and your mind groaning at the thought of having to figure out how to make new meals with all of these remnants.

No, it is simply the morning after the day we changed the clocks again.

We change the clocks twice a year, for reasons no one has ever been able to fully and logically explain in such a way as to convince me it is truly needed. This always occurs on a Saturday, and on Sunday morning, you don't notice much of a difference, really. Sundays are just a bit "different" anyway, a different speed to the day, different routines than M-F, so it doesn't hit until Monday.

It's usually the light. Either it is suddenly bright way too early, or way too late. Right now, with the fall change, it is bright very early, by comparison to the several days previous. This messes with my internal sense of when things should be done. I feel like I should already be doing things that are scheduled for later in the day.

The good news about it is that I can get the laundry on the line earlier. The bad news is, it is so cold out there, I am not motivated, even with the bright, beautiful sunshine, to go out there at all.

The morning after. Always a bit of a surprise, twice a year, fooling my brain.

In celebration of Plan your Epitaph Day, I quote one of my favorites:

Here lies Timothy Snow,
Who died fighting for
A lady's honor
(She wanted to keep it).

Also, don't forget, tonight is the full moon, called the Full Beaver Moon this time of year.


Today is:

All Soul's Day

Balfour Declaration Day, Israel

Dead Relative's Day, Sicily

Dia de Finados, Portugal

Full Beaver Moon

Independence Day, Bahrain, Panama

National Deviled Egg Day

Plan Your Epitaph Day

Recreation Day, Australia

Soulcaker's Play, Cheshire, UK

Thanksgiving, Liberia


Anniversaries Today:

North Dakota becomes the 39th US State, 1889
South Dakota becomes the 40th US State, 1889


Birthdays Today:

Stephanie Powers, 1942
Pat Buchanan, 1938
Ray Walston, 1914
Burt Lancaster, 1913
Paul Ford, 1901
Warren G. Harding, 1865
James K. Polk, 1795
Marie Antionette, 1755
Daniel Boone, 1734


Today in History:

The Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay, and Connecticut colonies combine forces and attach the Great Swamp Fort of the Narragansetts during King Philip's War, 1675
The popular vote for US president is first recorded and Andrew "By God" Jackson (a/k/a Old Hickory) defeats John Quincy Adams, 1824
New Zealand officially adopts a standard time to be observed nationally, 1868
Johnny Campbell officially leads the crowd in cheering at a University of Minnesota football game, the official birth of cheerleading, 1898
The British newspaper the "Daily Mirror" begins publication, 1904
Australia's Qantas Airways begins service, 1922