Weather Watchers…
A recent hilarious post by Em about his Mom’s obsession with weather and her blind devotion to whatever is said on The Weather Channel gave me a deja vu flash. It sounded so much like… home. Roomie’s elderly mother lives in Missississississippi and is also quite obsessed with weather. It is not just a senior thing, because Roomie was weather fixated when I met her, and is certainly in the top ten of TWC fans, especially if there is any hint that bad weather might be within three states of us.
Mom-in-law turns off the TV, radio, and other appliances to assure that lightning will not hit the house. (??? Duh…OK…???) A couple of days ago she called Roomie, and the conversation went something like this…
Roomie: Hello.
Mom-in-law: They just said we have a bad storm coming in.
R: OK.
(Long pregnant pause…)
R: Is there something you want me to do about it?
M: I just wanted you to know so you wouldn’t try to call me. You know it’s dangerous to be on the phone during a storm.
R: But you called me. We’re on the phone now.
(Long pregnant pause number two…)
M: (Hurriedly…) Oh… I’ve gotta go. Bye. (Click… hangup and ensuing dial tone…)
7 Comments so far
NO! That can’t be your Roomie’s mother, because that’s exactly what my mother used to do to me and she died two years ago! Maybe it’s a Southern-mother-thang. She’d also remind me not to take a bath during a storm. We’d be in the middle of a tornado watch and she’d call to tell me NOT TO TAKE A BATH! Um. OK, Ma. Excuse us while we take shelter in the basement BEFORE we take a bath.
This does remind me that I need to polish up my Southern-Mothering idiosyncracies. Wouldn’t want Kate to miss out on anything.
Don’t mock it! My answer-machine blew up during a storm. Never worked again.
As for me, I can’t remember what the weather was like this morning, let alone yesterday, so when Aged Aunt calls me, I just agree that, yes, it’s been wet/cold/sunny.
Don’t blame it all on TWC. Our local dippy-doppler gangs out here in tornado alley will interrupt the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby or the Second Coming to let us know there is a storm that might have a POTENTIAL for severe weather sometime in the next week.
OMG…that is too funny. Making the dangerous call to warn people not to make the same dangerous call. What is it with people in the south and weather?!?!
Thanks for the kind comment.
A friend of mine does the same thing….calls me during storms. The worse the storm…the more calls she makes. I personally love storms, but she totally panics during them. When I told her it wasn’t a good thing to be on the phone during a bad storm, she immediately got off…but not for long.
Having actually taken a lightning strike
( see http://www.savory.de/blog_jul_04.htm#20040719 )
I can assure you it is VERY impressive.
I physically unplug expensive gear (computers, TV, HiFi) during intensive local storms to prevent damage from current surge; just turning them off won’t help in the case of a strike.
Stu
It must be more common than you think, Winston. If I need a weather update, I can always count on mom. She will never talk on the phone during a storm. She hides under the covers on the couch in the basement family room. You can’t even talk to her, she’s so upset. When we were kids Dad worried that we’d all develop her storm paranoia, so he’d take us out into the garage, set up chairs, bring out snacks, and we’d enjoy the show. I’ll admit to becoming frantic when kids are in the pool and I hear the rumble of thunder. Then I’m CrazyWoman screeching “OUT OF THE POOL RIGHT NOW!! OUT OF THE POOL!! I don’t want them joining Dr. Stu no matter how impressive it might be — though if they could get some of his smarts out of it I might reconsider.