The Fly Away Balloon

My parents came for a visit a few weeks ago, and when we were in town, they took Jakob to a car dealership to show him all the Jeeps (one of Jakob's favorite cars, along with the most- favorite VW, the Hummer and more... mainly because Bapa, or Grandpa, drives a Jeep). While at the dealership the sales man asks Jakob if he would like a balloon, to which he replies "I want a balloon that doesn't go 'POP'!" So, as he's playing with the balloon the most tragic thing a child can go through (speaking from experince), the thing that I was dreading for him happened. The string broke and the balloon was free, before anyone could stop it. Poor Jakob's lips began to quiver and we watched as the red balloon floated higher and higher in the sky. I scooped him up and said "look how high your balloon is going" and things of the like to try and help him think it was cool and not tragic. But he kept saying "I want my balloon to come back!". It broke my heart. I remember as a little girl I had this wonderful mylar balloon. I can't remember what was on it, probably My Little Pony, or Strawberry Shortcake, but as my mom was helping me out of the car the balloon escaped and we stood there and watched it float away. It is the saddest feeling- seeing the thing that you love (for the moment) drifting ever so slowly farther and farther away with nothing you can do about it.

Well it's even worse as a mother. I came up with the story that the balloon is red, just like Rocket (on Little Einsteins) and that it was going on a mission. For the next few days Jakob talked about how his little balloon went on a mission and then would add "my red balloon will come back". I told him that his red balloon wasn't going to come back.