Balloon Message

Today I was watering some shrubs we planted last year in hopes of rescuing them. They were sold on clearance because of their rough condition, and they never did quite recover. I walked out first to notice that most of the watering I had done was down to the sidewalk and into the curb. Thankfully my husband wasn't home to see it. Then I noticed there was a yellow balloon caught up in the midst of the shrub that was the least likely to survive. I assumed my son had somehow drug out one of the fading balloons from his birthday party weeks prior. I picked it up and found a tiny piece of paper folded inside.

I got a little excited remembering when I was a child and we released hundreds of bright balloons into the sky with messages about our school in hopes that someone would retrieve them and find our hidden treasure. Who knows where a balloon drifts to or what stranger would happen upon it. I never did hear word of anyone finding our balloons. We did however, end up on the intro of Good Morning America. As a child, that was equally exciting.

I searched for scissors excited to see if this was such a balloon. As an adult, I had come to believe that most of those balloons popped high in the atmosphere and never made it anywhere. If they did, what were the chances of someone happening across one before it fizzled into a shriveled blob and opening it up, reading my handwritten message and least of all.... responding? HIGHLY unlikely.

Unable to find scissors i used some shears for our trees to rip apart the balloon. The paper was tiny and folded many times over like I use to fold my gum wrappers when I was bored in class. And inside... on the paper... what do you know... it was a handwritten note!!

"Hi. I am 12 and live in Ft. Morgan, CO. Email me if you find my balloon." Also included was her first name and an email address. I quickly did a search on mapquest to see where Ft. Morgan was. 425 miles away!!! In my wildest dreams as a child I would not have imagined a balloon to travel 425 miles to find its resting place. I responded to the email.

I imagine I was more excited than the child was. I found a little treasure today, and it made me smile.