rackmount | prayers for rain

i lost my umbrella. i lost my best umbrella ever, the one i found on the subway a year or two ago, the one with the embarassingly trademarked plaid, the one i wouldnt have kept but for it's tiny indistructability. it's now living with some italian who picked it up in the restaurant where i left it. i hope it went to the right sort of person, someone who'd rather it did not come in trademarked plaid.

it reminded me of a late afternoon many years ago, when i showed up at this boy's door in my burberry rain coat, the white one that looked like a lab coat. big white rubber boots before everyone started wearing rubber boots. and the see-through umbrella with white trim. he said i looked like a girlfriend should look.

i didnt realize at the time that it was an insult.

but then, at the time, it was so happy-making. i don't generally like rain so much, but through force of will, ive decided to like it. i think of the prayers for rain preceding my mississippi aerobics class, the unchic ladies who wanted a workout and god and for the crops to grow. who prays for rain?

i finally remembered during this drenched fall that i'd like a replacement. turns out, i picked up a $125 umbrella. so it's only right that i lost it. now i have to decide if it is better to spend $$$ on a perfect umbrella, or to simply buy the occasional $5 umbrella. $125 buys a lot of crap umbrellas. do any of you have a secret, non-trademarked, indestructible tiny umbrella that might be a little less than $125? remember, i work in the city, where wind blows off the ocean. it's not as crazy as boston wind, but it's still pretty fierce.