Nobody who knows me will believe it, but I honestly think I did the best I could to cope with the time change today. I tried hard not to keep telling myself what time it should be, or what time it really is. I tried not to go by the clock at all, in fact. The only reason I got up as early as I did was for the race I wanted to watch on TV. (So there’s one good reason I can point to for watching NASCAR; it gets me out of bed a little earlier on the first day of daylight savings.)

If it worked, I probably won’t know it for a few days. I often start the post-change period with high hopes, only to find myself even more tired and cranky than usual by the middle of the first week, and still disoriented and malfunctioning a couple of weeks later. I’m going to reserve judgment, but I’m not going to give in. Not until I have to, anyway.

I’ll tell you what, though. If I could get a little dose of Aiden every day, things would be all right. David was driving him and Kylie and Titus around tonight, and they stopped by for a minute. Aiden said, “Hi, Uncle Mike,” before I even got a glimpse of him. “I’m eating a French fry,” he told me. “I’m going to paint the cabinet.” David confirmed that he was going to let Aiden help him paint, and I told Aiden I wanted to see the cabinet after he painted it.

“Peace out, Uncle Mike,” he said as they were leaving. “Talk to you later.” With that magical smile on his face the whole time, despite the fact that he’s trying to fight off another cold. I want a little of that spirit to rub off on me. Just being around him is therapeutic. It reminds of when his daddy was small. Whenever I was feeling down, I knew a little dose of David was all I needed to pick me up.