Up, Up and Away

"Oh look, somebody lost their balloons," I said to a colleague as I was standing in her office. A long, multi-colored strand of helium balloons was floating up into the sky above Sixth Avenue, somewhere right around Radio City Music Hall.

Funny how the same sight can elicit two different reactions ... and both of them film based.

I immediately said, "A naked American man stole my balloons," and my friend said it looked like a giant gobstopper from Willy Wonka.

We just stood there, watching them float upwards and eastwards into the clear blue sky, carried by the wind, wondering where they'd end up before they popped.

Then I thought of my Southern Californian youth and annual trips to Disneyland, where some kid would inevitably (and accidentally) let go of the string that was tied to their Mickey Mouse balloon. Off it would go, leaving a broken-hearted and empty-handed child to forget about all the magic around them and just stare through tear-filled eyes at their lost prize, getting smaller and smaller as the helium carried it off to what seemed like outer space.

And then their bastard parents wouldn't buy them another one. "You had one and you lost it."

It's all about letting go. Hopefully whoever lost theirs today will realize that ... and then go out and buy some new ones.