“Bells and whistles” usually refer to “technology and stuff” but do you have real ones that announce reunions, arrivals, or old-fashioned face-to-face time?
My Mom has a loud brass bell, on the wall, at the back door, leading in from the patio. It’s been there almost 20 years. Why? The grandkids pull on the long cord, to announce their arrival.
My eldest nephew is almost 18, but we have new toddlers, in the grandkid group, so I’m looking forward to hearing that bell, for several more years.
When I visit, even if the grandkids aren’t around, I look at the bell and smile, because I remember their happy expressions, as they announced their arrival.
We have a loud flood horn, in San Anselmo, that gets tested every Friday, at noon. Two weeks in a row, Sally showed up at my office at the exact moment the horn blasted. The second time it happened I decided to call it the “Sally is Here in San Anselmo Siren.”
It used to annoy the hell out of me. But now I associate it with a friend showing up at my office for lunch, or a labyrinth walk, or face-to-face chat.
And in a world of smartphones and texting, an encounter like that deserves a bell, a whistle, or in her case, a happy horn blast.
