Here in Maynard, we have what’s called “reverse 911.” That basically means the town has the ability to record a message and call each and every resident of the town to inform them if something is going on. For example, recently there was a water main break, so they left the message with everyone not to panic if their water was off or discolored. Not a bad town service. Well, last weekend we got reverse 911’d that a family in Maynard was going to be visited by the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. You know the show – it’s the one that our wives all cry at just watching the commercials for it. A family has a certain hardship and the crew from the show come in, tear down their house and basically build them a new one in like ten minutes. My dad contends this show is fake. I’m not sure that’s accurate, but I think it’s funny when he gets on that tangent because my mother gets all hot about it when he says that!
Anyway, there is a family here in Maynard that does have a pretty tragic story. A guy in town was on his way home from visiting his wife in the hospital, who had just given birth to their third child. He and his two children were involved in a car accident and he’s been in a hospital now for about a year-and-a-half. He can’t walk yet, can barely speak and has severe head injuries, but he’s very very slowly improving. So the Extreme Makeover crew was here on Wednesday, but I didn’t know this: just because they come, it doesn’t mean you’ll be on the show. They scout the location. They want to see how many people in the town will show up to support it. Then they make the decision. So the town reverse 911’d us to get us to come out and support the family and the town. We didn’t go because I had to work and Steph had to take the twinkies somewhere, but I did see a lot of people walking down there. I wonder what will happen.
Yesterday I flew down to NY for a day-trip and business meeting. Now, I always turn my cell phone off for meetings, because if there’s anything I hate, it’s when someone’s phone shrills loudly during a meeting. Even worse – when they look to see who’s calling and actually take the call! This has happened! They get up and walk right out. Unreal. Anyway, yesterday I forgot to turn mine off for the first time ever. Hey, I just had twins.
So of course, my phone rings. Murphy’s Law. Luckily, we seem to have developed a decent rapor with the folks we were talking to, so there was a pause during the meeting, I apologized, and then one guy cleverly said “I wasn’t sure if I was going to heaven or something.” He was referring to my ring tone, which is, coincidentally, the first twelve seconds of Band of Horses “The Funeral,” a most beautiful rock song if there ever was one. That moment in the song at about 1:20 where it kicks in is…..epic. Listen here:
[audio:funeral.mp3]Anyway, I thought it rather amusing that he associated a song he had never heard of about a funeral with going to heaven. Interesting.