Whatever Floats Your Boat

A while back, I was perusing the Donate Life website when I saw something about a "rose dedication". I looked into it was super excited to see that for the 2013 Rose Parade Float, you could buy a rose with a dedication to a loved one and then personally put it on the float. This was right up my alley. My dad worked for the United State's Postal Service and for years the Postal Service had a float in the Rose Parade. During those years, my dad always volunteered our family for a few days before New Years to decorate the float, and he really loved being apart of that. Plus it was money towards a good cause, so I signed us up. 

It was finally our day to go put our rose on the float when the weather turned to crap. It was pouring rain, freezing cold, and dark. We bundled up, including my little grandma, and got on the freeway. As soon as we got there, we ran inside a tent where we were picking up our rose, our dedication, and putting them together. However, because of the rain, everyone and their mother was inside this tent seeking shelter. 

 Ya, it was a little emotional...can't lie. It wasn't so much the meaning of all this that made it emotional. It was just that we were doing it. Doing a "memorial" thing for my dad, it's still very surreal. It's been a year, and I still don't believe he's gone.

 Group photo time, except we are all soaking wet and freezing cold...not cute.

 We went in to place our rose and we got to check the float up closer and personal. It always amazes me how massive these things are. If you've never been to check out the floats, you really should do it just once. Watching them on TV doesn't do them justice, however I'm not generally a fan of parades so I don't wanna do that either.

 They had a professional photographer there taking pictures for us, which was really nice so we could have a group picture of all of us together.

 Then it was time to actually put the flower on the float! Ek, everyone let me put it on which, I can't lie, I was really excited to do.

 As you can tell...

 Took a moment to memorize where our flower was and take it all in.

Of course there were plenty of special merchandise items to entice you. I see this being a yearly tradition for my family and I now so I bought a pin to start a collection. 

It was an amazing experience if it wasn't for the rain. I hope to help more on the float next year, maybe volunteer an entire day. Watching the float on the tv during the first morning of the new year really lifted up my spirits for the year ahead. Maybe, maybe, it'll be a good one.