19 Memories until Christmas

My Mom has always loved hot air balloons. We always looked for gifts with a balloon theme when her birthday rolled around. When we were kids, in the car with Mom, if we saw a balloon she’d chase it and we’d watch it land. I found myself chasing a balloon with the kids in the car one time shortly after we’d moved to Liverpool.

Years ago we had a camp at Sylvan Beach and one year they had tethered balloon rides set up right where we could watch from the front porch. Mom was visiting for her birthday and finally got to take a ride, she must have been in her sixties then and her health was just starting to decline. She was just so tickled and I am so glad that she got to do something she had always wanted to do.

The last time Mom was able to travel to her brother’s in Michigan I took her. When we started for home I got on the highway in the wrong direction and just down the road were two balloons which she was able to watch for quite awhile before I could turn around. When we got to Cleveland I got on the wrong highway which ended shortly afterward and we traveled for miles on a two lane road along Lake Erie. And again there were balloons before I made my way back to the highway. That was the only trip that Mom and I ever took, just the two of us.