grandmother whistle

one of the doctors i work with came in with a whistle around her neck today.  i commented on it and she told me the little story behind her necklace, which instanly made me think of a story of my own. 

once upon a time my mom got tickets to love for my birthday.  my grandmother went along with our little group that consisted of my mom, brother, and friend amerest.  from what i can remember this is how it went down.  my brother was driving, my grandmother in the passenger seat, and the rest of us in back.

all the sudden a whistle blares in the truck and practically deafens us.  i yell along with a couple others and my grandmother laughs.  she said the reason she wore her bright orange whistle was to warn the person driving if they were about to do something they shouldn't.  in actuality the deafening sound caused more of a distraction than anything.  i think what motivated her to wear the whistle was the fact that a week prior when i was picking her up from the vegas airport i ran a stop sign.  a simple mistake which was followed up with a lecture about how i should be wearing glasses.  luckily it didn't cause any harm, just frightened us.

so safety motivated her, but i'd say the fact that it matched her bright outfit also played a huge part in her accessory choice that evening.  i mean we are talking about the woman who made a necklace out of an old thermostat, so wearing a neon whistle is actually quite normal.  i made her promise that regardless of how my brother drove the rest of the trip she would not use her warning device, and she didn't.

so this is the story of how my grandma received the name grandmother whistle.  to this day people laugh when i tell the story and i can't help but laugh myself.

p.s. love was an amazing show that i highly recommend, especially if you are a beatles fan.  i would see it again for sure.