The weekend past saw its share of college/university commencements, save for some of the more pretentious institutions of higher ed that have speeches in Latin. I got to attend one, but not the one I've gone to in the past.

As part of my new familial standing, I got to see Sarah's sister graduate from the University of Maine at Farmington on Saturday. Actually, I didn't get to see much, as most of the people sitting in front of me had umbrellas up.

That's right: they graduated in the rain.

It wasn't the sort of torrential rain that marked the commencement at certain institutions that pay my salary, but it was steady. The story, as told by UMF's president (incidentally a BU Ph.D.), is that she talked to people on Saturday morning, who said the forecast called for things to clear by 10:30. As there aren't enough rental chairs in western Maine to set up both inside and outside, she made the call to stay outside.

Which wouldn't have been so bad, except that there was no tent, either. Just many, many chairs out in the rain.

Did I mention that the temperature was, at best, 42 degrees?

We at least had it better than the majority of grads, who did not have umbrellas. But we were all glad that Lisa was one of the first to get her diploma (actually an empty holder; the actual sheepskin comes in the mail), so we could beat feet and hang out in the student center waiting for the ceremony to end (sadly, Lisa didn't have that option, as she was on the podium as a class officer).

The rain did lead to some very short speeches, including that of the keynote, who may be America's best-selling gynocologist. She plugged her books, gave 10 things to think about (most well recieved the idea that at least one family member, probably a parent, is crazy), and sloshed back to her seat.

The ceremony was followed up by dinner at Wilton, Maine's finest restaurant and brewpub. It's also the place where I learned that, apparently, the traditional Ritz cracker stuffing for baked stuffed haddock includes lobster meat. I'd never had it that way, not realizing until today that my mother, also allergic to shellfish, couldn't have made the stuffing this way, much less eat it. I am very stupid sometimes.

But the beer was good, and the rolls excellent.

For the first time since 1990 (or 1989, if you include watching it on TV), I missed commencement at my alma mater. After reading the Globe article about it (which I won't link, given that it'll expire after a couple of days), and hearing from a couple of people who did see it, I wish I did see it. It appears that I can still catch the main ceremony via webcast, so perhaps I'll do that.

You can fault BU for many things, but the one thing they do get right every year is commencement.