grrlTravels

I am fine, if a bit bruised

It has not taken me 41 years to decide that I like the weather channel, but it has taken me 41 years to admit it to the world at large. It seems like such a retiree thang.

I do, though. I like the weather channel. I find it very relaxing. I don't understand why, but I slump (in a good way) the second it comes on. I can watch it for hours at a time. Hours. Seriously.

When I was growing up my bedroom was in the attic of our small house. It was lonely up there for a 10-year-old, and I got into the habit of listening to the Phillies baseball games being called on an AM channel on my clock radio. I found the announcer's voice soothing, the rhythm of the games soothing. I would lay in the dark letting Harry Kallas' voice lull me into sleep. When the games weren't on I would listen to the local news station, and especially the weather.

The most exciting weather reports were in the winter when snow was expected. Would we have school? How much snow were we getting? I would stay awake to listen to the weather report over and over (every 10 minutes or so) trying to find minute changes in the forecast. In the morning I would turn on my radio right away to listen for the school closing numbers. How I loved listening to those numbers, especially when school was cancelled. I would listen to the whole long list over and over, getting a little thrill each time the number of my school was announced.

My beloved clock radio had numbers on little panels that flipped when the time changed. One day the little panels began to fall off, and soon it was time to say goodbye to the clock radio. I got a replacement right away, but things haven't been the same since. The new clock was digital, for one. I hate baseball now, although I still pause to listen to Harry Kallas. There aren't any snow days when you are an adult, not many anyway. Cable has taken care of the reading of the numbers, taken away the building anticipation. Flip on the tv and you know instantly.

But the weather, the weather remains. I will admit to an ugly vicarious thrill watching huge waves and swirly red hurricanes and tree-bending wind and quietly powerful blizzards. (Not tornados, though. Tornados are plain evil.) I am powerless under the spell of the multitudinous weather maps. Oh, the maps. I love the forecasts. I feel lost when I don't know what the weather is to be. I'm generally prepared to talk to at least 80% of the over-70s that I run into because there's always the weather.

Green bands of rain beginning to creep towards us. 80% chance of rain tomorrow, high 57 dropping to 45, winds 20 to 30 mph. Lovely, isn't it?

Posted by grrlTravels at November 14, 2007 9:29 PM