In All Kinds of Weather...

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It's funny how life works. For the past month, we have had zero rain in our area (April is one of our driest months). Then, on a day when some amazing and important things are taking place in our community, the skies decide to open up on us! And not just a passing shower, but the kind of storms that build up out of nowhere, and just sit over the top of you and build up into monstrous thunderstorms! That's what happened last night. And two important events happening in our community (one of which was one of my events) yesterday was the grand opening of our busiest municipal swimming pool, and the first of three days of graduation ceremonies for the University of Florida. The storms started building around 5:30-6:00pm, so it didn't affect the pool's grand opening very much (the pool closes at 7pm, so most patrons had already left for the day), but it did affect the graduation ceremonies for UF. Typically, UF holds graduation inside its basketball arena, but that facility is under renovation for the next year, so the graduation ceremonies were moved outdoors to the football stadium (those are the only two facilities in the community large enough to hold such large graduation ceremonies). And naturally, because the ceremony was moved to an outdoor setting at the football stadium, two things occurred: 1) the temperature soared into the 90's, and 2) our month-long drought ended with a deluge of rain. I felt bad for all the graduating students from the University of Florida who were part of last night's ceremony. Graduation from a university is a major accomplishment, and so the ceremony is something that is considered special. To get rained on sort of ruins that magical moment. There is a crowd-favorite football song that is sung at the start of the fourth quarter of every UF football game, called "We are the Boys of Old Florida." In one verse of the song, there are the following lyrics: "...in all kinds of weather, we'll all stick together..." The crowd at the stadium burst out in an impromptu singing of "We are the Boys" when the ceremony was delayed due to lightning and rain. When the lightning subsided, the president of the university took the podium and said, "We are Gators...In all kinds of weather we all stick together!" The crowd went wild, and the ceremony took place even with the downpour. It may not have been the most special ceremony due to the weather, but I guarantee it was a memorable one! Graduation ceremonies continue again today and tomorrow, and you guessed it...more rain is in the forecast! Keep your fingers crossed that the remaining graduation ceremonies go off without a hitch. Have you ever experienced a time when it has rained on your parade?