Existential Ponderings

Yesterday we crossed the equator. I'm now officially in the South Pacific. At midnight tonight we cross the international dateline and set the clocks back 23 hours. So, I will go from midnight Monday, October 27 to 11:00 PM Tuesday, October 28. I will only exist for 1-hour

on Tuesday. This seems a bit alarming, as I've existed for a full 24 hours on all other Tuesdays.

The good news is: (1) We will get up tomorrow and already be arriving in Apia, Samoa, skipping what could have been another sea day. (2) If we come back this way we'll pick up the day we lost and get to live the better part of the same day twice. An equally neat trick in terms of my existence in space-time.

I only wish there was a superimposed line across the sea so we could see exactly when we cross these notional lines - like a bright yellow 10-yard line on TV football fields - so we can do a little happy dance to celebrate.