Getting that extra hour of sleep was great! After setting the clocks back an hour last Saturday night for the change back to Standard Time, I charged into work Monday morning, raring to go. It was month-end and my assistant, who normally prepares all the month-end reports, wouldn’t be in for the next few days, so I planned to do the reports myself.

With all that extra energy from nine hours of sleep, I threw myself into my work and the first time I glanced up at the clock, it was one-thirty already. Funny thing was, I hadn’t even thought about eating. Usually I’m getting serious hunger pangs by eleven. Well, since it was afternoon already, I left the office and walked up to the nearby Seven-Eleven for a sandwich and a cup of coffee, but I couldn’t wait to get back to the reports. I hadn’t worked this hard in months; I was really jazzed.

All this time, The Monday Reminder was ticking away at the back of my mind. Every Monday evening, we pick up my dad at six-thirty and go out to dinner with him, so I have to be sure to leave the office in plenty of time, in case the traffic’s bad. After I’d worked for a while, I checked the clock again. Ohmigosh! It’s almost five already! I still had a few things to finish up – would only take five or ten minutes – before I’d get to a good breaking point. The rest would have to wait ’til tomorrow.

Well, you know how ten or fifteen minutes goes. It goes. Next time I checked the clock it was after five-thirty. I stacked my papers, shut off the computer, locked up the office and left. As I hurried through the lobby I thought I saw Yvonne at her desk in the other office. She always leaves at five sharp. I kind of wondered why she was still here, but I remembered her boss had kept her late a few times this month, so I figured this was one of those times.

Then I debated whether to call home to say I was running late, but that I was on my way. I decided not to. It isn’t that unusual for me to get home at the last minute on Mondays and I was pretty sure I’d be home in time – just barely, but in time to get Dad by six-thirty. If traffic was light…

In the parking lot, I jumped into the car, fastened my seatbelt and stuck the key in the ignition. I drive a Ford Fusion. It has a round clock with hands – no green digital numbers. That clock just happened to catch my eye as I turned the ignition key. Something didn’t look right. I stared at the clock. It couldn’t be right. The big hand was on the four. Four-forty-five, it said. You know how these clocks with no numbers can fool you. You have to look close to see which number the big hand would be pointing at if it had any numbers. I looked closer. This one was definitely on the four.

How could that be? It’s almost six! Did I forget to reset it this morning? Guess so… I reached over to turn the hands back… Back? That would make it three-forty-five. So I did change it. How come it’s telling me it’s four-forty when it’s five-forty?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. My. Gosh. It is only four-forty. I did reset the clock this morning. This clock. But not the clock hanging on the wall in my office…

So that’s how I got two extra hours ... ’cause I sure didn’t go back to work that day.