Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Happy New Year! 2014

We had friends over for New Years Eve similar to Christmas Eve this year so when I woke up this morning to a warm sunny clear day I was pretty happy to start the year off this way. My son is coming to visit as well as my older daughter so we all can be together for the first time in about 1 year now in late January so I have something to look forward to. I got up this morning and had recorded the "Rose Parade" that I used to live next to in Glendale, California from the time I was 6 to age 21 when I left Los Angeles County for San Diego County. When I was 12 my cousin who was in the Glendale High School Band played in the parade so my Aunt (his mother) and my mother and father and I actually went to it. This is more difficult than you might imagine right off the bat because even in 1960 when we did this when I was 12 the traffic getting to the parade and then getting home from the parade is almost unimaginable because of thousands and thousands of people wanting to be there in person to see it or to be in it. So, for example, afterwards it took us about 4 hours to get home to Glendale which is only about 10 miles away from the parade. But, it was amazing getting there at 4 AM New Years Day 1960 and seeing the parade first hand and even watching my cousin (then 17) playing in the Glendale High Band. I also attended Glendale high in my Sophomore and Junior years before I transferred to a private school in Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1965.

So, anyway, now I'm watching the Rose parade this morning which brings back all these memories of my father and mother and aunt who were all alive and young then. (My cousin and I still sail on his sailboat in Southern California a few times a year. Happy New Year everyone!

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