I woke up that morning,
the Monday after Thanksgiving, 2002,
thinking practical thoughts
of getting my kids
back to school...

The slow beginning rush,
breakfast, schoolwork sought,
teeth, hair, shoes, check...
older daughter finishes first,
all very normal, so she goes outside,
to look around (she gets that trait
from her mother) and
swooshes back into the front door,
bringing the crisp air
and a hint of mischief,
telling me to "come out and look."

I glance at the clock,
decide I have time and
me, and the younger,
freshly shoe-tied daughter,
go to look.

Sun's early rays blind
when door is reached, we shuffle out
into Autumn's unpredictabity,
to find...

an immense string
of gold and white balloons,
stuck
in our front yard palm tree!

Entangled, sublime, they've
"appeared" overnight, and the sight
is stunning, unbelievable, enchanting!
It's like we've captured...magic.

We laugh, and beam, shining
our smiles at each other,
I run for the camera,
freshly-imaged dreams fill my sight,
proclaiming, "life is good",
as I humbly snap away,
from angles of limitations,
by fences, or distance...

sun's birth rays
touching,
caressing,
inspiring,
creating,
cementing,

human life. My life,
epitomized,
in a reclining bed
of escaped balloons,
captured in the night,
by occupant's dreams,
and palm's tall reach,
strung like gold,
within white's cold,
into our lives.

Days go by, every morning greeted
by balloons, shrunken abit
in nighttime's cool,
then inflated by day's happy heat,
a peek-a-boo game
of hilarious proportions!

Finally, 3 months later,
our balloons are deflated,
collapsed, dangling obscenely
from above, one, occasionally,
drops tiredly
to the ground, to be
snatched up by children,
not to throw away,
but to hold and "remember"...

dreams upheld
in the tattered arms
of a palm tree,
loved.

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
© Copyright 2/12/03
Photo by Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
Copyright 2003 ©