Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon

When I recently read that my Facebook friend Racquel Oden had gone up in a hot air balloon for her birthday (Happy Birthday!), I flashed back to my April birthday and my own hot air balloon surprise.

Since early childhood, I’d wanted to ‘ride’ (fly, glide) in a hot air balloon. My mom would repeat my longing, telling friends and family of my professed pre-K desire to ‘fly to China in a hot air balloon”. China, no less! My mom always said "whatever you do, do it BIG! Be the best"! So why not China in a balloon from Philadelphia?

Earlier this year, my good friend and Philadelphia court magistrate, The Honorable Sharon Losier, recognized my desire and gifted me a beautiful pair of hot air balloon earrings as a birthday gift. She asked if I’d been read childhood stories of Babar: the elephant who’d traveled the world in a hot air balloon. We'd been trying to find the origin behind my fascination with hot air balloons. I'd been generously read to as a child, inspiring an abundant imagination. Credit to my parents for the bucket list of all bucket lists, hot air balloons notwithstanding.

There we were, days before my 55th birthday in April and my fiancé, Steve, dared me to guess what he’d gotten me for my birthday. Immediately, I excitedly guessed “a hot air balloon ride’. Steve skillfully shifted the truth and told me I was wrong.

Hiding my disappointment, I'd secretly hoped Steve was just a fast thinker.

In the end, Steve admitted my guess was correct – and off we went to Bucks County, Pennsylvania and its beautiful farmland on a warm, sunny April afternoon for a sunset flight to end with the promise of a champagne toast.

What I’d expected:

·?????? Wind

·?????? Chilly temps

·?????? A rocky ride

·?????? A sense of flying in open air with associated fear

?

What reality delivered:

·?????? Zero wind / zero resistance

·?????? Peace and easy flow

·?????? Silence

·?????? No bumps or bounces – peaceful

·?????? No sense of ‘flying’ – only gliding

?

What I took away:

Hot air balloons move WITH the wind, removing the impact of resistance.

Blowing at the speed of the wind, and the direction of the wind, gave the sense of flowing rather than flying.

What most surprised me was that there is no pre-planned landing spot. You don’t know where you are going! With focus on remaining buoyant at the appropriate altitude, you have no control over where you are headed or will land. The wind controls the destination.

When your gas starts to run low (or your designated flight time has reached its ebd), you make the decision to land….wherever you are. (sound familiar?)

Surveying the landscape for an unobstructed landing spot, our pilot cautioned on several farms: ‘We can’t land there. He’d threatened us with a shotgun’. (Good to know!)

During the duration of our flight, we billowed over friendly communities with waving parents and children, where landing will be agreeable. You don’t launch over communities where landing won’t be okay. Start with the end in mind. (Following this?)

We crashed into a few treetops along the way, breaking them off with our basket; but we maintained course and speed. Was that supposed to happen? I don’t know. It was unnerving. Our pilot seemed unconcerned.

The landing was rough! “Bend your knees and hang on” announced our pilot. Bracing ourselves, we bounced along the ground in an open pasture, almost dragging to our side. He later shared that the wind was stronger than anticipated and, as such, he’d instructed us on how to evacuate if we were to tip over on the ground.

As we worried that we’d landed on private horse pastureland, a very small girl and her mom came running out from their farmhouse. Donning tiny farm boots, the 4-year-old was screaming with delight at the sight of our quickly deflating balloon. The mom was gracious, asking for our pardon over the intrusion. We reverted by asking her to forgive our unexpected arrival.

Our ‘chase-vehicle’ arrived – it had followed us for the duration of our hour-long glide.

The chase-vehicle driver helped us quickly pack the balloon and load the basked into his trailer. He’d been our ‘man/woman’ on the ground as we were cruising, always keeping us in sight and serving as ground coordinator as we took to the unpredictable skies. Don't we all wish for such?

I won’t drone on with abundant metaphors, as I know you’ve already connected those dots. ?Isn’t there a metaphor applicable for every moment of the life’s flight path?

This is my very first bucket list item, rooted in a pre-K-aged dream. It has become a reality and vessel for an abundance of poignant lessons. Highly recommended!

https://www.canva.com/design/DAF0pkiwuWQ/oVoRyTsyp5zLWQtM1_SQzw/watch?utm_content=DAF0pkiwuWQ&utm_campaign=share_your_design&utm_medium=link&utm_source=shareyourdesignpanel

Have you flown in one? Let us know.