Singin' in the rain

How many places would you go and deliberately stand in the rain?

Yesterday I left the VTS campus and flew from Reagan National to Columbia, again a direct flight. We were about 30 minutes behind schedule, as always, because of the gate arrangement for regional flights at Reagan. And, yesterday, we were delayed slightly longer with a stony-faced FAA inspector aboard.

Tal picked me up in Columbia and we went from there to supper and on to the Carolina/Kentucky football game. A storm cell passed over about 45 minutes before kickoff, sending tailgaters under their little tents, producing heavy rain and two extraordinary views: the setting sun in the west illuminating the underside of the heavy clouds and a double rainbow in the east.

Fifteen minutes before the game was to begin, when the band takes the field (who knew they had matching raincoats as part of their uniforms?), the colors are presented, the national anthem and the alma mater are sung, we were in the almost filled stands in full rain gear, the rain coming down in sheets, made all the more dramatic seen in the lights of the east stands. I didn't take my hat off or put the hood of my rain jacket down for either anthem, by the way. But, there I stood, singing in the rain.

The rain abated just after the first play of the game and from then on it was unseasonably warm and humid. And, yes, "Fran" was there, pretty much drowned out by the enthusiasm of last night's crowd. While it wasn't a particularly pretty game, according to those who can judge such things, Carolina did win by a comfortable margin.