Today, as we traditionally do, we took down all our Christmas decorations while watching the Rose Parade on TV. As usual the floats were beautiful. I am always amazed at the intricate designs they make with all those millions of flowers.
While watching today’s parade on TV my mind floated back to another Rose Parade. It was January 1, 1961. I was a student nurse at Pasadena City College. My fiancé was a student at Cal Tech. We decided we wanted to see the parade so we, along with several thousand other young adventures, dressed in our warmest clothes and headed to Colorado Boulevard about 10 PM on New Year’s Eve. We secured prime space right next to the restraining rope, pitched our blanket and prepared to wait for morning. It was cold and it got colder. Our warmest southern California clothes were nowhere near warm enough. Our thermos of hot chocolate did nothing to alleviate the cold. I believe it was the coldest night of my entire life. The morning sun was one of most welcome sights I had ever seen. By parade time the sun had thawed out our frozen bodies and we were able to oooh and awe at the floats. We waved to the equestrian units and sang along with the marching bands. The parade was spectacularly wonderful. I have always been glad we saw the Rose Parade. We experienced it all. It is wonderful memory.
I will never do it again.
7 comments:
I have always wanted to see the rose parade, one of our radio announcers goes over to watch it every year..he is so lucky :)
don't supposed your cal-tech date or you checked the weather report first?
(I was 6 weeks old that day so I didn't check it.)
Of course we didn't check it. We were 18 years old and invincible.
SOUNDS NICE :)
Okay, I was older....about 8 weeks old and I don't remember anything about the parade. I would love to see a picture of you and Dennis on that day. I bet that you were adorable.
That's why you have to do things the moment you get the chance - because, for a million reasons, you might not ever again. I'm so glad I learned from poor planning romantics like you guys.
I too did the "sleep on the cold Pasadena sidewalk" one year when I was a heck of a lot younger. While I'd never do it again, I can say that I'm glad I get to check it off my "Bucket List." :~)
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