With Daylight Savings Time signals return of bike rides, golf leagues and baseball

I’d rather watch a sunset than a sunrise.

Watching a sunset means that I’m outdoors as evening ends. Just finished a bike ride. Or a walk in the neighborhood. Locusts hum. Streetlights flicker. Might get an ice cream. Or go inside and watch the Cardinals game on TV.

Watching a sunrise tells me I’m awake way too early.

Six hours until lunch. Dew on the putting greens. Noisy bird near my window.

I’m an evening person. The best time is between day and night, when there’s enough light left to ride a bike, take a walk, watch a ballgame, play nine holes, or sit on the deck and ponder life.

That’s why one of my most favorite days of the year will be when we spring forward on Sunday, March 10.

Daylight Saving Time returns.

Purpose returns to evenings.

It’s the biannual “Can I Remember How To Change the Microwave’s Clock Day?”

We lose an hour of sleep. But we gain an hour of daylight every evening. That’s good news. I’m tired of darkness.

It’s not the cold, wet and grayness of winter that bothers me. It’s darkness. I get tired of leaving home when it’s dark and returning home in darkness.

It’s 7 p.m. in January or February and I’m yawning. Is it too early to go to bed? It’s too late, cold, wet and dark to do anything else?

Daylight Saving Time is a step forward. It’s a sign that baseball season is around the corner. And then comes May when daylight extends until 8 p.m. and beyond.

Seasonal darkness messes with my mood. Medically, it’s known as Seasonal Affective Disorder. It’s a form of depression and affects millions of people. I have symptoms. But they fade as soon as I’m riding my bike again in the evening.

I’m not a morning person. I am productive in the morning. But leave me alone, please. I try to avoid Morning Glories. They’re too perky, chirpy and stand too close.

I’m not a night person, either. I go to bed at a reasonable hour. I can’t tell you the last time I watched TV after 10:30 p.m. Out after midnight? Only by accident.

Evening, overall, is my prime time.

Bike rides. Ballgames. Neighborhood walks. Yard work. Golf leagues. It’s all best in the evenings.

Fondness for evening daylight goes way back. As kids, ballgames started at 6 p.m. If I wasn’t at the old St. Philip’s Catholic School’s grounds playing ball, I was there as a spectator most evenings.

When there was a free evening from school ballgames, there was a neighborhood game of tag or Kick the Can that had to end when the streetlights came on.

As a parent, evenings were about rushing home from work to make sure the kids got to their evening games on time, or that we were in the stands to watch them.

Free evenings were for a basketball game in the driveway or a game of catch in the front yard. Evening was also a good time to cut the grass and take care of yard work so weekends were free for golf and bike rides.

Bike riding is what I’ve missed most this past winter. I look forward to getting lost in my world of bike trails and evening daydreams. I won’t win the race. But I’ll always finish the ride.

I am not sure why we continue to turn our clocks back every autumn. I’m sure the law made perfect sense generations ago. There are more important laws to change, I guess. And I’m sure there are two sides. There are two sides to everything, right?

I’m looking forward to March 10. It’s a first step in the right direction. When it’s 7 p.m. and I’m putting air in my bike tires and not getting ready for bed. Might stay outside and watch a sunset. May go in and watch the ballgame.

This story was originally published March 3, 2024 at 6:00 AM.