Saturday Night, Jump or Leap?

Close your eyes and imagine this.

No wait, your reading my e-mail.

Imagine if you will, sitting in a small seafood restaurant in Florida with Phyllis, Aunt Marge Churchill and Ruth Buckley.  What a nice group to be having lunch with.

It’s the first Saturday in April and I’m visiting from the north.

Ah, the first Saturday in April has begged the same question each year since 1986, “Is this the night?”

Maybe we are programmed by the impending vernal equinox or just by The Uniform Time Act of 1966 (modified by president Regan in 1986).  Nevertheless, Aunt Marge posed the question over dessert, “Which direction do we move our clocks tonight, if tonight is the night?”

We all thought we know the answer that one, that’s an easy one,

“Ahead”

“Back”

“Lose an hour”

“Gain an hour”

We all chuckled.

But, Phyllis asserted that she was positive she knew the truth when she told us that we moved our clocks ahead an hour and lost a full hour on Sunday.

A discussion followed about when the actual ritual of the clock should occur for maximum effectiveness.  Phyllis assured us, even though the actual transformation happened mysteriously in the wee hours of the morning, we would not upset the cosmic balance if we did it before we went to bed.  It really wouldn’t mess anything up.

This was a relief, no one wanted to be responsible for causing a time warp in the Village Green neighborhood or be late for church.

But wow, how could Phyllis remember which way to move time and be so sure?  And, don’t we have to worry about this again in the fall?

Whew, this is a lot to worry about!

Aunt Marge was the first to confess that she could never remember and relied on the TV News.  Ruth agreed.

But, Phyllis had the formula.  We would never be troubled by this conundrum again.  Mum cleared her throat and announced, “LEAP and JUMP.  Just remember leap and jump and you’ll be right every time.”

There was silence around our dessert.  She sounded so sure, so logical, like we were dummies if we couldn’t figure this out.  How could we not know leap and jump?

Ruth was the most direct, “leap and jump what?”

“Why, ahead and back.  That’s how you remember.  Leap ahead and jump back.”

Aunt Marge wasn’t completely clear on this yet.  “How does this help again?  How do we know we don’t jump ahead and leap backwards?  And which time of year do you start in?  If you leap in the fall then must you jump in the spring or vise versa?  Do you need to remember what time of year you started saying this?”

This was becoming complicated.  But Phyllis held her ground, “You just remember this, thats all, and your clocks will always be right.”

REMEMBER:

Saturday night (at any convenient time AFTER the sun goes down, Jump Back.)

Be sure to remember that this is where you started so next spring on the first Saturday in April you can complete the saying with out giving it a second thought.