As of 6:00 pm this evening the Elmo balloon is officially gone. RIP Elmo balloon. You had a short life, but you were well loved while you were here.
It all happened when we took the balloon with us in the car to my parents house so Ben could show it to them. As we left, I willy nilly threw the balloon in the trunk(so that I could see while driving). Well, on the way home I decided to make a stop at good ole Walmart. Why did I need bananas and bread?
I loaded Ben back in his car seat forgetting all about his little friend who had made the journey with us. As I opened the trunk to put the groceries in, out popped Elmo. Before I even knew what was happening he was soaring past the W on the store sign.
I looked in the car to see if Ben had noticed and sure enough he was staring out the window just watching his beloved balloon friend float away forever. Surprisingly there were no tears and he didn’t even mention what had happened. Of course as soon as we got home I had to tell J about the horrible thing I had done and I promised that I would buy Ben a new Elmo balloon the next time I saw one at the store.
So, what did I learn from this experience?
Lesson 1: If you are going to put your child’s most favorite balloon in the back of the car, either tie it to something or be ready to grab as soon as you open the trunk.
Lesson 2: Don’t buy $10 balloons because chances are somewhere in that great blue sky our Elmo balloon is having a little party with all the other balloons that have also floated away from their owners.
RIP 9/11/10-9/14/10
