CAREGIVER DIARIES: A REASONABLE HOUR

Long ago when rotary phones were all the rage, home-training lessons included a concept called a "reasonable hour". 

It was the specific block of time, in which making and receiving calls, was polite and acceptable. 

One could chat to one's heart's content at a "reasonable hour". 

Before 9 AM and after 10-anything-PM, however, was a definite no-no. 

You didn't even look at the telephone. 

You didn’t call, and no one had better call you. It was thoughtless, discourteous and disrespectful to disturb the peace of another person's home. If the phone rang during the unreasonable hours, something was wrong; there was was bad news coming--very bad news. Someone was in a hospital, bleeding in a ditch, stuck on the side of the road, or dead. Being caught talking on the phone late at night was met with a stern, "Who are you talking to this time of night? Hang up."

A phone ringing late at night wasn't a welcomed sound. It was jarring and harsh. "Oh, Lord. Who is that?" "Hello?" Somebody had better be dead, or you and your ill-mannered schoolmate were in for a tongue lashing. "Who is this? Do you know what time it is?"... "Didn't you tell them? Don't they know better? Tell them don't call here again unless it's at a reasonable hour." 

Today, people send quiet text messages. (Hip, hip, hooray for technology!) 

Today, as a cell phone girl, currently in a home phone world, when the phones ring late at night and interrupt my winding down, or jar me from sleep, it's hard to unlearn that old-school narrative about the right time to be on the phone. I'm always glad, however, to learn that no one is dead, and it's just someone who is alive, wide awake, obviously didn't grow up in my parent's house--and usually profusely apologetic after hearing a very sleepy, "Hello?"