Apparently, It's Raining Men

Okay, well one man, at least.

So this morning my Human Diversity class walked to the art museum and it was warm and only partly cloudy... but we knew that would change. I walked home this evening in pouring rain and lightening.

I had planned to stay at school to finish a couple things, and possibly catch a ride with Amy when her class ended at 8:30. But then I remembered that I hadn't set up the tape for Gilmore Girls (and I missed it last week; and here it starts at 7pm). So I finished up one paper and then left school at 6:30 so that I could be home in time.

It was only sprinkling when I walked out of the building, but I put up my umbrella anyway, and sure enough, within less than a minute it started raining harder. Soon it was pouring (not as hard as I've seen here, but still really bad). So by the time I reached the corner of campus, there was no point in avoiding puddles because my pants and feet were soaked from the knee down (flip-flops are very useful in this sort of situation).

All through the water-logged parking lot, I kept asking myself, "Is this worth it?" I wasn't quite sure what the rain would do, and I wasn't entirely convinced that my umbrella wasn't going to serve as a nice lightening rod. But I just kept thinking that it was my only chance to have a copy of the episode, and that I was already soaked and planning to do laundry this evening anyway.

As I reached the corner of the intersection, I saw a guy walking toward the corner who was wearing shorts and flip flops, carrying his shirt neatly folded under his arm, and listening to his iPod. I laughed to myself thinking, "well, that's one way to deal with it," as I struggled to keep my book bag in front of me so that it wouldn't get wet.

When we crossed one side of the street, it was obvious that the shirtless guy was trying to avoid the rain as he attempted to hide under the "Walk/Don't Walk" sign. I didn't think sharing my umbrella would help him very much, but I felt bad for him. And then he looked at me and said, "Would you mind if I--?" And I readily agreed.

I talked about the rain I'm used to and he talked about the rain he's used to (Florida). Then he explained, "This is my only clean shirt, I have to keep it dry," and he was gone with a thank you as the light changed.

And as I watched him run down the street, it all struck me as so funny. I couldn't help laughing to myself as I continued to wade through puddles all the way down the next four blocks to my apartment.

Maybe I should have said, "I enjoyed our Meet Cute," to the anonymous shirtless guy before he disappeared into the pouring rain...