the weather family

For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you know that Matt is obsessed with the weather.  The Weather Channel app rivals the ESPN and MLB apps on his iphone.

Enter record breaking temperatures and Hurricane Irene... and it now seems we must bend over backwards to find conversation topics that don't revolve around the weather.  (On that note, the cable news channels don't seem to be trying AT ALL to find any other news topics besides the hurricane.  I guess there's nothing else interesting going on in the world?)

Anyway, I thought it was bad on Saturday morning when Matt woke up and the first thing he said to Henry was, "HENRY, let's see what's happening with the hurricane!"  Oh my goodness... that was seriously the first thing on his mind when he woke up?  You have to admit, it's kind of cute.

But then I went over to Matt's parents' house today, and it turns out he gets his obsession honestly.  I told his family that I wish I had been keeping a tally of how many times they brought up SOMETHING concerning the weather.  I kid you not, it was nonstop weather talk.  (Not helping was the fact that my sister-in-law had to endure the anticlimactic Irene drama in NYC, so the family must have felt as though they got to be a part of both the heat and the hurricane drama.)

All afternoon, I heard things such as...

• "Yesterday was the 2nd hottest day in Austin history."
• "It's 108 degrees right now."
• "There is currently a 40 degree difference between the temperature in New York and the temperature in Austin right now."
• "I heard we were supposed to be getting a break from all this heat sometime in September because there is supposed to be a change in the weather pattern."
• "There is rain in the forecast for FOUR DAYS IN A ROW NEXT WEEK." (To which I responded, "I'll believe it when I see it." - oh me of little faith, jk hahaha)

I mean, this wasn't it, people.  These were just a few of the things I started to note once I realized JUST HOW MUCH they were talking about the weather.  And when I brought it to their attention, my mother in law responded, "Is that weird?  Don't other families talk about the weather like this?"

Maybe.  But not my family.  I mean, SURE, the hottest summer on record is gonna get talked about.  But I mean, there's only so much you can say... then it just gets DEPRESSING!  Yes, we live in a desert.  Thank you, Jesus, for air conditioning.  I guess for me in this situation, ignorance is bliss.  And talking about it just makes it feel hotter outside.  Let's just ignore the facts until October, please!

Next time I go over there, in addition to keeping a tally of the weather conversations, I am going to introduce a new game, which should be interesting... "Who can name off the most number of weather facts, statistics, records?"  You'd be amused.  They are CONSTANTLY spouting facts about the weather, those Gibsons.

I should also mention that they know every reporter/meteorologist on The Weather Channel (TWC), and they talk about them as if they are famous people who everyone else should know as well. TWC is on their TV about 90% of the time, even when there's NOTHING exciting going on with the weather.  And if the TV is not on, my father in law is getting constant weather updates on his iPad.

So basically, you know who to call when you need to know the forecast.