We managed to escape our snowy quarantine about a week ago, leaving for the Portland airport a mere 6 hours prior to our flight. We wanted to be sure we got there and were also eager for new scenery. We slipped, we slid, we spun our wheels, we wondered if there is a Patron Saint of Winter Road Conditions. But eventually we made it to PDX with a couple hours left to observe people other than ourselves doing things other than lay on the couch watching the windows or TV.
Our first stop was Reno, where we were greeted by parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and...snow. A few days later, we blew that frigid taco stand for a much warmer one and have spent the last 3 days soaking in every last ray of warm southern California sunshine therapy that we could before heading back to what is reported to be a very wet and soggy Woodhaven. We're delayed in the Oakland airport at the moment, so we haven't yet witnessed for ourselves what happens when five days of rain falls on 15 inches of snow. We may be adding “row boat” after “snow blower” on our new list of “must haves.”
As we were packing this morning, the local Los Angeles news was on. In addition to reporting the cold front that is moving in, dropping temps to the high 60s, there was lots of talk and interviews about tomorrow's Rose Parade in Pasadena. It reminded me of about 15 years ago when Rob and I joined my parents in the grandstands for both the parade and the bowl game. It was great fun and fulfilled a long-held dream of my mom's. She grew up in Idaho and spent many New Year's Days on a cold, snowy farm, watching people float down Colorado Boulevard in shorts and t-shirts. She was thrilled to be able among the sunkissed throngs that year.
And speaking of sunkissed...
When the day came to watch the Rose Parade in person, I was a few days into a rather impressive cold. Nothing that would keep me from participating in all the activities of the day, but enough that my pockets were packed with Kleenex and cough drops and Cold Tylenol. We sat in the bleachers and oohed and ahhed with the people around us. We all had our favorite floats and commented about them to nobody in particular.
Completely unaware of what was coming up next, at one point I reached into my pocket and popped a citrus cough drop in my mouth. As I started sucking on it, the Sunkist float came by, all decked out in beautiful flowers and seeds. It was a nice float, for sure, but the woman in front of us just loved it. “OOOOH!!” she exclaimed. “It's just beautiful! And I can even smell the oranges!!” I was sucking on an orange flavored lozenge so it was actually my cold remedy she was smelling, not the float. I reached to tap her on the shoulder to correct her but then thought better of it. What a wonderful memory and story to take home, actually smelling one of the floats in the Rose parade. And it remains one of my favorite memories about that New Years Day spent in the sun watching the flowers roll by.
Our plane home seems to have landed. With any luck, we will be back at Woodhaven before the end of the year.
2 comments:
I love the Rose Parade! Did you know I worked for one of the float builders for several years?! It was the best time ever.
Hope you got out alright, it's a bit foggy tonight.
Yeah, Eileen, I DO remember that you worked for one of the float builders! And if I remember right, that job was the one on your resume that you were most often asked about during job interviews -- even if it had absolutely nothing do to with the job you were interviewing for!
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