I searched and searched and could not find a channel in the DFW area airing "The Rose Parade" this morning.  It made me so sad because I always watch the parade on New Years Day.  I  don''t necessarily sit and watch it from start to finish but it is always turned on and I can hear the bands playing while I am cooking or doing the laundry.

It's an immediate throw back to my teen years.  They were always spent spending the night on the parade route.  We layered our clothes because it gets so cold in California you know.   The cars line Colorado Blvd. filled with teenagers cruising.  The boys were always on the look out for the girls.  I was never one of  the girls that they wanted.  I guess my extra 20 pounds, braces and acne weren't what the boys were looking for......go figure. 

I can remember one particular year feeling like such a wallflower as I sat guarding about 20 chairs on the parade route.  All of my friends had found college boys who were gushing over them and I sat alone in a chair watching the cars cruising down Colorado Blvd.  Suddenly, I spotted my Dad's very old "tough truck" (it got it's name because it would never die, the sucker kept running and running, it was such a clunker), my brother was driving it and saw me and probably felt very sorry for his pathetic little sister.  He yelled for me to jump in the back.  I lit up and grabbed another friend who also happened to spot my very cute brother and we jumped into the back of the truck together.  We cruised the parade route and my soul felt a little bit lighter. 

I must say that I was sorry to miss the parade on television this morning but I am not sorry to have grown and made it through my teen years.  Forty feels so much better than 14. 

*This is an example of one of the rose floats.  They are covered in flowers and plant based materials.  If you are ever in the Los Angeles area around the New Year, don't  miss this parade.  You can actually buy tickets and sit in the grand stands.  Don't forget to check out the floats after the parade and the following couple days as they are lined up on Sierra Madre Blvd. for a close up look.