Last week my family had a combined May birthday party. Four of us kids (in-laws included) are May babes. Which means more then half of us are Tauruses. And three of the four birthdays fall on the same week. That's a LOT of cake and ice-cream. So to make life simpler we celebrate brithdays separately (if possible . . . heh), and then throw a combined party.
My Mom loves balloons. Loves them. A party isn't a party unless we have them. So off to Smiths my Mom and I went, and she bought 15 latex balloons. That's pretty standard for us, and didn't seem like a big deal--15 balloons, in groups of three, loosely bound together--until I got outside.
It was windy!
Super windy!
Out of no-where windy!
And the balloons decided to throw an early party and started dancing about, intertwining, until they formed a crazy complex braid.
I noticed too late what was happening, and immediately let out a moan.
Suddenly, in my mind, I envisioned Disneyland, remembering those cast members assigned to sale balloon. 30+ balloons bound together! A happy, glorious assortment of colors in the shape of Mickey heads. How do they do it? I wondered. How do they keep all those balloons sorted, ready to pull one down and out to give to a kid with a few dollars in his/her outstretched hand? And then I wondered if that was one of the hardest jobs at Disneyland.
Can you imagine having to keep all those balloons from getting tangled!!??
When we got home it was my job to untangle them.
I slumped on the couch and quickly assessed the situation: Top to bottom. That was the only way. To be honest I was grumbly through the whole of it, which wouldn't fly at Disneyland. Grumbly as I looked at my watch and then up again to see the slow progress. 5 minutes, then 10, 20 30, and finaly 45 minutes. It took me 45 minutes.
By that time the family had all arrived, and my Mom took the groups of three and spread them throughout the house, all five bunches.
At the bottom of the stairs my little nephew tried to get a green balloon, pulling as hard as he could, to no avail. He exclaimed, "It's stuck!" And those of us downstairs giggling at his cuteness recommended he look for Grammy to ask if he could have the balloon. He looked down the open hallway, went into the creative room, and then out, arms up and shrugged in a question mark.
It was adorable.
Soon enough he had his balloon.
And suddenly those 45 minutes spent untangling the balloons were completely worth it.
"Nobody can be uncheered with a balloon."
~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-The-Pooh
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