Neena Strichart
Editor-in-Chief
We’ve all heard of some pretty over-the-top holiday gifts given and received, but I have a real-life tale to tell about a present that puts all others to shame. And I have the pictures to prove it!
Our very own Blair Cohn (executive director of the Bixby Knolls Business Association) pulled out all the stops this year to give a holiday surprise/gift to longtime girlfriend Alissa Sablan. Apparently, Blair did some pre-planning, took a leap of faith and proposed to darling Alissa in front of bazillions of parade participants. Grasping an interviewer’s microphone during the parade, Blair got down on one knee right there on 2nd Street and popped the question!
Looking surprised and then totally shocked, Blair’s beloved regained her composure and answered in the affirmative. Lucky for him, she agreed, because there are loads of photos on the Internet documenting the proposal and her acceptance! Congratulations, Blair and Alissa. May life never rain on your parade.
Speaking of parades, I found a few quotations on the subject that I thought you would enjoy.
“Parades should be classed as a nuisance, and participants should be subject to a term in prison.”
—Will Rogers, entertainer
“And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.”
—G. K. Chesterton, essayist
“Lots of times you have to pretend to join a parade in which you’re not really interested in order to get where you’re going”
— Christopher Morley, American writer
“Group conformity scares the pants off me because it’s so often a prelude to cruelty towards anyone who doesn’t want to— or can’t— join the Big Parade.” — Bette Midler, entertainer
“One must either take an interest in the human situation or else parade before the void.”
— Jean Rostand, French historian
“I tell you, if you’re in the front row of the parade and you stop walking, pretty soon you’re back in the tuba section. And if you want to lead the parade you’ve got to keep moving.”
— Phil McGraw, television’s Dr. Phil
