Two Hour Delay

In my house, when even the slightest winter weather is forecasted to hit our area, Remodel Man and I begin chanting, "Two hour delay, two hour delay."  You see, being a teacher, I covet the two hour delay.  Unlike many schools, my school does not require that teachers report to school when a delay is called.  I am able to go back to sleep and get up at a more reasonable and human hour of the day. I can even make a cup of coffee and eat breakfast at the kitchen table!  The past couple of weeks have been full of chanting with a bit of weather heading our way every couple of days.

A few days ago was no exception.  A storm was supposed to hit north of our area so the potential for a two hour delay was there.  At 4:45 A.M., the alarm went off and up I got.  I casually peered out the window, noticed that the roads were perfectly clear, and began my morning ritual.  Now, two important things to note here are 1.) I live an hour south of where I work and 2.) Remodel Man is never awake until well after I leave in the morning.  After my shower, I went into one of our spare rooms where there is actually a closet (those of you who have older homes understand this no-closet problem!) and was pulling out my clothes for the day when I heard this rapping on the door to the room.  Assuming it was one of our cats desperately trying to get into the room, I threw open the door in an effort to scare them.

The joke was on me...standing outside the door was a flannel pajama clad man rubbing his eyes.  Now, rationally I knew it was Remodel Man, I did, but this didn't stop the "Oh my God a man is standing in my  hallway at an ungodly hour" phenomenon that happens.  The one where you scream and throw your arms around...you know that one?  My  mother is the queen of this...screaming this demented, "wooooohooooo" like a warbling Stooge on drugs anytime someone walks into the room, annoying my father for 39 years now.  I unfortunately inherited this gene... So, I scream, silently, of course, so as not to wake Builder Boy, and flail around a little.  Remodel Man waited, then rolled his eyes once I gained control and merely chanted in a whisper, "Two hour delay." "What?!" "Yeah, your principal just called..." says Remodel Man  and walked to the bathroom.

Remodel Man is infamous for his middle of the night conversations with me during which he is completely asleep.  I assumed that this was one of those.  The roads were perfectly clear, after all.  So as soon as the bathroom door was soundly shut, I sneaked over to the phone to check the Caller ID. Hmmmm...

He wasn't lying.  We did, in fact, have a delay.  Apparently, that one hour drive I have does make a huge weather difference.  And once I got my heart rate under control, I was able to enjoy an hour more of sleep.  Two hour delay...two hour delay...

Comments

[Topsy-Techie]

Since you get so excited over a two-hour delay, here's wishing you an honest-to-God actual SNOW DAY very soon!! But please turn the ringer off next time so poor Remodel Man can get his beauty rest! :0)

[Black Belt Mama]

I inherited that freak out gene too. I do it when my kids sneak up behind me while I'm drying my hair. I do it when Mr. BBM walks in unexpectedly. It's genetic and there's no way to get rid of that.

[Kat.]

LOL! I loved your description of the flailing around. :o) I have a variation of that gene...I don't have so much flailing as I do screaming. My hubby really gets a kick out of scaring the bejeebus out of me when I'm in the shower. Guess he's watched "Psycho" one too many times. I let out an awful scream, but have that "deer in headlights" thing going on. :o)