It was a very rainy morning… and I had no umbrella.

While walking in to work, however, I noticed that most everyone else did have an umbrella.  It got me thinking…

Would it be awkward if I walked behind someone close enough that I was being shielded from the rain by their umbrella?  I mean of course it would be weird if I asked some random stranger if I could walk under their umbrella with them, duh… but what if I was very very sneaky?

That person would probably never know.  I’d have to get pretty close, though.  There is a danger zone that surrounds all umbrellas.  Stand too far out you get hit by both the falling raindrops and the splashes of the umbrella that you were hoping would keep you dry!  It’s sort of like Shamu’s splash zone at Sea World.

Being a marching band veteran, I’m fairly confident in my ability to walk behind someone, keeping in step with them so that our legs overlap but our bodies never touch.  This technique also served me well at OCS, running in formation at very close intervals.  Granted… this does have the chance to be kind of awkward.  It’s one thing to ask a stranger to share an umbrella.  It’s a completely different level of awkwardness to be caught trying to share their umbrella without first asking permission.  Not that I know that for sure of course…