There is little that is more frightening to me than a phone ringing either too late or too early in the morning.
Back in the day, a late-night phone call might have been a friend in “good spirits” who forgot the sage advice of “don’t drink and dial.”
Since that doesn’t happen much anymore, a ringing phone at odd hours makes my heart race and prompts me to say a quick prayer before I answer that those whom I love are safe and sound.
In my experience those ill-timed phone calls have mostly meant bad news.
Therefore, my first instinct when the house phone rang at 5:44 a.m. Wednesday was to pull the covers over my head, take deep breaths and pray.
I didn’t know what to think when my husband’s and daughter’s cell phones also began to chirp away at precisely the same time.
But instead of the Grim Reaper rapping at my door in the darkness, I simply heard the chipper and polite voice of Bangor Superintendent Betsy Webb letting us know that Bangor schools were closed for the day because of the storm.
Two hours later, when my heart had resumed a steady rhythm, I caught on and accepted the relatively new automated school cancellation notification system and vowed to be better prepared when the next storm shuts down our state.
My husband reminded me that the call system actually started last year, but apparently I had forgotten.
I suppose it’s more foolproof than counting on parents or students watching the local news or listening to the radio for cancellations and probably means fewer half-frozen students waiting alone for buses that never arrive.
It’s a smart idea.
When I was a kid there were few things more exciting than having an unexpected snow day.
The thought of it still warms me inside, and the voice tied to that memory is that of famed radio announcer, host and DJ George Hale.
“George Hale in the morning on WABI,” was a radio jingle that still plays in my head today.
We never watched TV on weekday mornings when I was a kid. Instead, three girls would tumble downstairs to the kitchen where my mother would have a small AM radio tuned consistently to WABI-AM.
In between pop music, Hale would update us on sports and news. His voice simmers like background music in my memories of those glorious stormy winter mornings when I would huddle by that small white radio perched above the kitchen sink and wait and pray for him to add SAD 48 to the list of cancellations.
If I were so fortunate I would get to hunker down for a morning of “Captain Kangaroo” and Eddie Driscoll’s “Dialing for Dollars.”
Going back to bed never was an option. Who in their right mind would want to sleep away a snow day?
The hope and anticipation of a snow day are half the fun, and traditionally I have refused to tell my children if school was canceled.
Instead, I would plead ignorance and make them sit in front of the TV as the list of cancellations rolled across the screen. Seeing Bangor pop up always meant at least a moment of delight and satisfaction for them.
As they got older they rolled their eyes, indicated they had outgrown this tradition and begged me to simply tell them so they could go back to bed.
I refused.
But now the phone rings and everyone wakes up and I answer it and they know and may look out the window before rolling over and going back to sleep.
To them I suppose it’s just as satisfying. After all, cable TV provides pretty much all shows all the time. They don’t quite understand the thrill of having the opportunity to watch “Dialing For Dollars” instead of being in math class.
And now that I know that it may be coming I will better anticipate my recorded call from Webb, but while she has a very nice voice and way about her, I still enjoyed hearing it more from George Hale.