The Balloon

December 8^th, my birthday and I was spending the day hiking/snowshoeing in a typical Northwest day of light rain and very gray skies. Picked of Tim and drove to the trailhead and the start of our day long outing where we followed the old logging road for the six miles switch backing back and forth up into the clouds and new snow. Early in the hike we had passed a silver balloon (the metallic type) that lay face down on the road. I made a comment “so, this is where those balloons end up as they sail away from children’s hands.”

Arriving at the top we stood for a short time on the snow covered rocks in the middle of a cloud bank…no views and decided to head down. After an hour or so I mentioned to Tim that it was my birthday and we stopped, pulled out a beer apiece from our packs and had a short toast  in the rain as we stood in the middle of the logging road. Continuing down I spotted the balloon that we had passed earlier in the day and as I picked it up was pleased to see that the other side said Happy Birthday. I smiled and tied it to the back of my pack and as we dropped lower in elevation the balloon began to lighten and once again floated as it bobbed up and down over my head. I was wished a Happy Birthday by the cosmos today…..or an unknown child who let go and watched the silver balloon float upward into the rainy Northwest sky. Seattle, Washington