Early memories

It was 95 stinking hot degrees out. The sun was pounding hot down onto my back as my cousins and I rode down the hill on my grandmas garden cart. A surprise. That was all they had told us. You'll just have to wait and see. Now if you have any common sense, you will understand that when your parents tell a four, a six and eight year old that their uncle has a surprise for them, they won't be able to concentrate on anything for very long. We tumbled down the hill, rolling down in the green grass. The whole backyard to ourselves, our parents playing cards on the deck. As we grew bored with that, we just lied there and stared at the clouds. A bunny, an elephant, a kangaroo or a dinosaur. Twenty-eight yellow balloons. Wait a second. As our minds clicked into gear we followed the string attached to the balloons we saw our uncle navigating this strange mass of balloons. Before you start making assumptions, let me tell you a little about me. Like most people who have at least one crazy member in my family, I have my uncle. The above time happened in 2001 when I was at my grandmas, my uncle decided to see if it was possible to tie balloons to a video camera to film and photograph the neighborhood from a birds eye view. Any sane person wouldn't think of this idea on a regular summer day. When the balloons started running out of air, he pulled the machine back down to add some new balloons. But of course, nothing works perfectly twice. It was really really AWESOME. Especially the multiple failed times when the balloons got a few feet off the ground and then came back down until he added new balloons. That time has always reminded me of the book The Big Red Balloon, and now more recently the movie Up.

After waiting eagerly until the next day to watch the movie, everyone gathered around the TV to watch. When we got the results, we had to watch a movie of like 20 minutes long to actually get a good glimpse of her neighborhood. It was really wobbly and went around in circles. But considering the circumstances, it actually went pretty well. As you probably expect, it took him a while to get a hang of controlling it. Whenever I look up at the clouds I always hope to see 28 yellow balloons floating above my head... I will always remember that time, until he comes up with a crazier idea to beat it!!!