The Great Balloon Caper

Our adventures yesterday took us through Wilkesboro on our ascent to 3,655.872 feet, cosmically very close to Balloon Heaven itself. On our way through, there was a guy selling something in front of Applebee’s, and in an effort to make himself more visible, he had a number of bundles of balloons tied to the nearby trees. As we drove past, one of those bundles broke free, and began its journey to Balloon Heaven. I pointed this out to the kids, and we all wished it well on its journey!

On the way home however, we saw two of the balloons had not escaped the grasp of one very oblivious person, who clearly did not understand balloons. One orange balloon hung limp from a tree, and another white one tied to it could still float mildly…but really had no hope of making it to heaven. We took in the wounded orange one, and sent the white one on its way. It made a very weak attempt to escape, managed to get across the street, then gave up and fell into yet another tree across the way. I love balloons and making my kids smile, but I decided not to journey across the busy four-lane roadway to try again.

Once we got back in the van I could see the disappointment on Sophie’s face as she held that orange "wounded" balloon, I knew it was time for action. And while I’m not sure Ezra completely understands the passion behind balloon saving, he does enjoy a great adventure, and especially the ones where Dad does weird stuff.

This looks like a job for… Spiderman?! Or at least a big balloon with Spiderman on it! We pulled into Wal-Mart in Wilkesboro after eating a fine dinner nearby, and after (once again) retrieving the limping white balloon. We had to be swift as it was now dark and as we all know, balloons travel safest under the cover of darkness. These two wounded balloons were facing grim odds regarding their escape, let alone catching up with their earlier balloon brethren who had already escaped hours ago.

In our quest for a "Mercenary Balloon" that could carry these two wounded souls all the way to Balloon Heaven, we determined that some glow sticks might help them on their journey, as well as allowing us to see them far into the night sky. Six dollars very well spent. So back out to the parking lot we scrambled, and did some quick battlefield surgery to attach the wounded to the Spiderman balloon, as well as the glow stick beacons. We had a brief discussion about whether we thought Spiderman was strong enough to carry this entire load far into the night sky, and some quick field tests indicated that he was indeed up to the task!

We headed out to a vacant area of the parking lot with no obvious aerial obstacles, and the kids took the whole bundle atop the van for launch. I was barely able to capture the takeoff before it catapulted out of sight like a shot! We watched it disappear into the night sky, glow sticks and all, very quickly! We had certainly done all we could for these two wounded balloons.

Now and again I face criticism for acting childish and/or having such a "unique" sense of humor. And the same goes for many of my personal views. Not to mention that even though we don’t exactly live in poverty anymore, six dollars is still six dollars. But the fun I had in writing this story only barely skims the surface of the hour or more of fun the kids and I had for that six dollars and the accompanying childish behavior.

One day I will expend no end of resources helping my kids chase and fulfill passions that I don’t clearly understand myself. But I know that if Ezra and/or Sophie are passionate about it, I’m happy to be a Mercenary of sorts even if I don’t completely share the passion they’re fighting for. And hopefully when that day comes, they’ll know they can count on me to be there to support them even if some people think there’s no such thing as a "balloon soul." If it matters to my children, it matters to me.

Author: Scott Rigdon