I have a psychological block when it comes to time differences. I am always three hours ahead of home.
I noticed this odd problem when I was attending Rabbis Without Borders sessions this year. The meetings were held in NYC and whenever I would think about my family, what they were doing, how things were going, I automatically made the three hour adjustment. If it was 7am when I woke, they must still be in the midst of slumber since it was only 4am by them.
Except we don’t live on the Left Coast any longer. So, in fact, when it was 7am when I was getting up, it was 7am by them as well.
I chalked it up to the fact that I am still a SoCal girl at heart.
However…
Warren (aka “PC”), Lilly (aka “Poppyseed”), and I are in SoCal to fête my father on the occasion of his retirement from his synagogue. We arrived very, very late last night. Though I am typically a good sleeper, I was sharing my Queen-sized bed with a rather restless bedmate. AND Miss Lil slept on my side of the bed. Needless to say, I was up several times during the night. And each time, I did the math: it’s 3am here so it’s midnight back home. It’s 5:13am here so it’s 2:13am. And so on…
Except I was subtracting three hours instead of adding three.
Don’t think I can use the “my home is in SoCal” as my excuse if I’m IN SoCal and still making that mistake, right??
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I have done that a bunch of times. One business trip to New York I went to bed at 4 AM because I kept thinking it was 1 AM. The morning came far too soon that day.
Relieved to hear that I ‘m not the only one.
Been there! I blame it on the baby still waking up in the middle of the night. I don’t know which end is up sometimes.
My baby is five years old so I can’t use that one any more…