Umbrella Joke

My friend and partner Kailey Franz often teases me about needing an umbrella. I made a mistake when she first started by telling her that I have never owned and umbrella and I wouldn't carry one if I had it. It has become a running inside joke...and you should probably be in on it. I grew up in the desert part of Washington State...where the average annual precipitation was about seven-inches. Most of that was in a single January snow storm. I grew up playing baseball, and I don't ever remember having a game rained out. Men and boys just didn't carry umbrellas. We didn't need them. We wouldn't have walked under one if someone next to us had one. It was like carrying a purse or wearing perfume. It just wasn't done. I remember the first time I drove into Texas to go to ACU in September of 1978. It was raining so hard that I really needed my windshield wipers. I thought those were just for pushing the water away after going through a car wash. You can get soaked here in the rain, and I can certainly see the need for having an umbrella...for some people, just not for me. I'll just plod through the rain...unless it's raining hard. Then, I'll dart through the weather as fast as these worn-out old knees will allow until I get to the safety of the car or the building. But, it will always be without an umbrella.