what do we need umbrellas for again?

I woke up this morning to a brilliant, clear sunny sky. But I'd heard all weekend about how it was supposed to rain and on NPR today I heard repeatedly about the severe thunderstorm warnings and watches. I knew it was only a matter of time before the skies let loose.

Now granted, I slept in late this morning, much later than usual. But I'd earned it. So I took my time getting up, drinking my coffee and checking my email, but shortly after lunch the bright light pouring in my window faded. A lot. And I still needed to run to the grocery store a few blocks away.

So I threw on some jeans and a T-shirt, left my hair half dry (not that it would matter), grabbed an umbrella and hurried off to the store. No rain. Maybe one or two drops but that was the entire walk to the store. I figured I could grab the things I needed and hurry back home before the rain started.

Not so much.

I looked out the windows when at the check-out and it poured. Not to the point where visibility was impaired, but it was poured in sheets. But I persevered. I figured with my umbrella, I might make it home fairly dry. It was either that or wait around like a few other people were doing. But who knows how long the storm would have lasted. So I hurried home.

A block from the store was the first of many oceans that formed at the end of the sidewalk with no possible way to jump them without landing in their depths. And these oceans formed in the twenty or so minutes I was inside the store. Amazing. Who wants to work with me to dig drainage systems? Or deeper ones since I know there are a few in my neighborhood.

Needless to say I looked like a drowned rat by the time I got home. My jeans soaked up water from the oceans, along with my shoes and socks. Not to mention that the rain was coming in at an angle, so that the only dry part of my jeans was the part my t-shirt covered. Because my shirt was soaked too so it's hard to say how much longer that dry part would have remained dry. And I had some nice little tablespoons of water in my bags (luckily nothing I bought was ruined by water...except maybe the boxes of my granola bars).

And of course my entire walk home, with my umbrella up and me feeling soaked to the bone, I just have to wonder why I'm even bothering.