Who needs a life line anyway?

During my youth, I spent one week a summer at my grandparents’ house for few years. During this week, I would go to work with my granddaddy and spend time with my grandmother at home. One thing we did every morning was call the Weather Line. Clearly, from its name, you know what the purpose of this line was. It was just a recorded voice that said the time and the temperature. It was pure entertainment, something I got to do that was helpful for them. I ONLY thought about the weather line when I was at my grandparents for that week each summer. Fast forward 15 or so years, and the weather line has returned to my life in a big, very time consuming way.

I went to visit my great aunt the other day and she had the most beautiful arrangement of flowers on her hearth. Now, I know old people and I know old people love flowers, love being complimented on their flowers, and love telling you where their flowers came from. I also know old people love to talk. Between all of the things I know, you would think I would also know that this results in a VERY long explanation that basically takes up the entire afternoon of your visit. Well, excusay moi. I asked about the flowers. It turns out, every day, my great aunt and another one her sisters (so another Great Aunt, though I only vaguely remember meeting this great aunt in my life) call the weather line to, obviously, see what the weather is. I thought I was going to die. I didn’t even know these things still existed. I’m pretty in the know and the last time I called the weather line was like 1992. Now, granted, they live in a small town, but come on. THE WEATHER LINE?

From what I gathered, it is a race between the two sisters every day to see who can call the weather line and then report in to the other sister the day’s weather first. One day, my aunt called in and the sponsor’s ads kept playing over and over, but the weather never came on. Confused, my aunt called my other aunt who had had the same result. They discussed and decided to wait it out a few days. This scenario repeated itself for THREE days! Finally, my aunt had the genius idea to call one of the sponsors and find out what the problem was. The sponsor got in touch with the radio station who called my aunt to thank her for alerting them to the fact that the weather line had been down for days (now, don’t even ask why they couldn’t turn on the tv and listen to the weather on the news report, or just look out their window to see the weather, because I do not know the answers to these questions). The radio personality also gave my aunt another number she could call should the weather line ever be down again, and someone would personally give her the weather report. Seriously? Is it really THAT hard to find the weather from an alternate source? At any rate, I will say, only in a small town would you find that type of customer service. And it was a sweet gesture. The next thing my aunt knows, she has this beautiful arrangement delivered, compliments of the radio station with a sweet card telling her thank you. This made her day in for several reasons. Who doesn’t love receiving flowers, especially unexpectedly and who doesn’t love calling their sister and telling her that they just received gorgeous flowers and had, in fact, won the race for the rest of their lives.

This whole story was really quite hilarious to me. It took my aunt literally 45 minutes to tell us this story because she was so excited. It was super sweet of the radio station to do that for her too, because I know without a doubt it thrilled her beyond belief that a stranger would take the time to do something so simple, but so thoughtful. When we left, and I had gained cell phone service again, I called my brother to tell him this story, knowing he would find it equally hilarious. Well, little did I know that my brother already knew of the weather line. See, he used to be in charge of a boy scout camp on the outskirts of this same town and he said every day, the aquatics staff would call the weather line and then report in the weather at morning ritual (or whatever it is they do in the boy scouts). My brother then proceeded to repeat to me the phone number of the weather line and the name of the voice that answered the weather line (I think her name is Sugar). He also told me that sometimes, when he is very bored, he will call the weather line just to say hello.

My brother is 30. My great aunt is probably at least 85. They both have the number to the weather line memorized. I didn’t even know the weather line still existed. Oh, but don’t you worry. I know now. It’s been posted on my facebook! Forget needing a life line, I've got the weather line! I think I will call it today since my boss is out of the office. You know what they say, when the cat is gone, the mice will get a little cray cray and may just call the weather line!