CNN picks up this touching AP story:

In the years since Madalenna Lai boarded a wooden boat and fled communist-led Vietnam, she has wanted to say ‘thank you’ to the Americans who helped her build a new life in the United States.

On New Year’s Day, she will get her wish in one of the country’s most-watched events, the Tournament of Roses Parade.

It has taken eight years, and she had to sell her house to raise the $100,000 to do it, but when the parade’s 52 floats start through Pasadena, Lai’s will be among them.

Her 35-foot long, 18-feet wide float will carry a simple message: ‘Thank you America and the world.’

I didn’t see this (I’m not a big parade fan), but still… What a country, eh?

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