Everyone needs a good umbrella

We need a new umbrella.

The last one turned itself inside out often enough to break a couple of the ribs. It isn’t completely unusable but a new one would be better.

We still have the golf umbrella that my in-laws gave us a long time ago. It does a great job of keeping the rain away but is somewhat unwieldy.

I decided to look up umbrellas and find out a little about them before I started shopping.

While I couldn’t find out exactly who invented the umbrella, it seems that a basic model was around in both China and Egypt sometime around 3,500 years ago. These were used as accessories to keep the sun away from the user. 

They were a status symbol and used mostly by the wealthy. There are hieroglyphic illustrations in ancient Egypt in which the gods all had parasols over their heads. These were not the highly decorated umbrellas of today that are meant to keep the rain off, but elaborate parasols meant to keep the sun away.

Small foldable parasols, very similar to modern umbrellas, were fashion accessories for the stylish ladies of Greece and Rome.

The first umbrellas made to keep the user dry came from China more than 3,000 years ago. Even today a good many umbrellas are made in China. For instance, Shangyu, China has more than a thousand umbrella factories according to one source. The United States has far fewer.

These days there are choices available to keep the rain off. There are raincoats, hats, ponchos and waterproof rain suits in addition to umbrellas.

Umbrellas range from tiny, frilly ones stuck in a drink, to giant beach umbrellas meant to provide protection from the sun. They come in rainbow colors and designs. There are bubble shaped ones that don’t quite work as well as one would expect. There are ones that fold up into a tight tube and ones that don’t. I have seen advertisements for ones that can handle the wind and are said to be resistant to turning inside-out. My grandchildren have a different solution for keeping the rain off. They take garbage bags and cut holes for their heads and arms. At some point the bags get torn enough for the kids to toss them into the trash and play in the rain unprotected.

I have always been told that opening an umbrella inside the house is unlucky. As many times as I have done this I have not noticed any change in my luck although there may be a puddle to wipe up. 

In addition to keeping a person dry, an umbrella is a sign that someone cares. How often have you heard a loved one tell you to take an umbrella when that was the last thing you wanted to do? For years and years I didn’t take an umbrella with me no matter how hard it was raining. 

Then as I got older, I became the one to tell loved ones to be sure to take an umbrella. My mission this week is to find a new one to replace the old one.