Ahhhhh...

Perhaps the best thing about living where I do is that for a week in October, weather permitting, I get to drive to work every day and look up at the sky to see hundreds of hot air balloons. Despite the simplicity of it, there's really nothing like a sky full of brightly colored balloons.

This morning was a great one. I got to look at balloons the entire way to work... I probably risked crashing several times, but I managed to arrive at work unscathed and now, I am watching balloons float by my window. At any one time between 30 and 50 balloons are framed by the wall of windows in my office. A few minutes ago a big Yellow and red balloon landed in the field across from our office and we got to watch the chase crew arrive and help the pilots fold the giant balloon and pack it into a trailer on their SUV. Of course, not much work has been accomplished thus far, but soon, the air will get too warm, all the balloons will come down and it will be as if it were another normal day. I am just grateful for the momentary joy these balloons have brought me on an otherwise normal Wednesday.

My family has told me that in the fall of 1996, when my grandpa was being rushed in an ambulance to the heart hospital a few days before he died, the balloons were in the sky and he had a great time watching them out the back window of his ambulance. I like to think about that at this time of year when I miss him the most. And now that I live here and can witness this extraordinary event every fall, I always do it with my grandpa in mind. I'm watching the balloons for him too.