Yesterday I took the girls for a walk to Jonathan’s work. It’s two blocks from our house and we cut through some apartments and the library parking lot, making it not necessary to take the stroller. I strapped Hannah in the mei tai and let Julia hold Jack’s leash. We had to cross a large street that is currently under construction with no crossing signals. We do this several times a week and our routine is always the same – I have Hannah on my back, I pick Julia up and carry her across while holding Jack’s leash. Only this time, we had another element to worry about – a balloon.

Right after I picked Julia up, she let go of the balloon she’d been carrying from home. Rather than fall to the ground, it immediately got swept into the street by the wind. My first thought was to jump out and get it – but reason quickly took over. So instead I watched as it got farther away and Julia began melting down. “My balloon! Mama! My balloon!”. I told her that the balloon was gone, there wasn’t anything we could do about it and we’d get her another one. And in that very moment, I knew I had a blog post.

You see, I love comedian Brian Regan. And in his routine Standing Up he actually talks about parents’ reactions when children lose balloons. He says how parents usually act miffed by how upset the child is when they lose their balloon, blowing of the situation by telling the child it’s not a big deal, there are plenty of balloons in the world and they they can always get another one. He goes on to say, “Imagine if that balloon floating away was your wallet. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get you another one.’ ‘No, I want that one!'”. I realized that to Julia this balloon was just as important as my wallet or phone – something I’d surely track down.

So I ran across the street to chase down the balloon. In order to try to catch the balloon before it got even further away, I kept carrying Julia in my arms (remember Hannah’s still on my back) while Jack trotted by my side. I’m sure we looked pretty hilarious running after a half deflated purple balloon that seemed to always be just out of reach. After about half a block, we found it behind a building just quietly rolling around on the ground. When I picked it up, Julia started squealing with joy “Balloon! Mama, my balloon!”. Her face showed such delight and joy – making it totally worthy my efforts. I told her I would hold on to the balloon until we got back home to ensure we didn’t lose it again. We finished our walk about 30 minutes later, all making it safely back – balloon in hand.