Balloon Fiesta!

Wow, if you have never been, there is nothing quite like marveling hot air balloons take off en masse from the ground.  I used to go every year when I lived here.  But haven’t been in about 21 years now and I swear to all that is holy, it has only gotten better, and bigger and more impressive.

There is just something innately happy about watching balloons blow up, take off and then soar through the air.  It is life affirming, and believe me when I say, I think we could all use a little life affirmation these days.

I still have yet to go up in one, but one day...

I love that there is a place on this earth that an entire two week long party is had to celebrate the art of ballooning.

In case you are interested, the first hot air balloon was in 1783 in France.  The balloon was made of paper and silk and was heated by burning straw.  You can see how this took a few centuries later to really catch on...I mean floating high above the earth’s surface in a paper/silken straw fed fiery vehicle does not sound like a great deal of fun, or particularly safe.

In the 1800s there was a limited interest but it really came into its stride in the mid 1900s.  And is now a global sport and recreational activity.  And this is all I know about hot air ballooning...except that it is really fucking cool.

Anyway, yesterday I stood on the field and watched hundreds of them light up in the early dawn hours, glow up the field, and then take off.  It was a beautiful morning and was perfect weather for the balloons.  Albuquerque is so popular because the thermals here create a box which takes the balloons up and then they rise and then another contraindicated thermal brings them back to where they started, well, at least most of the time.

It was a glorious morning filled with wonder, amazement and only a few screaming children.  I actually saw a young girl, probably about 4 throwing a full scale temper tantrum next to one of the toy vendors.  It was impressive.  She screamed bloody murder and laid on the ground (the wet and muddy groung), pounding her fists and kicking her legs.  Kudos to her parents, though, because they stayed remote and did not get her anything.  They just let her scream it out and then walked away when she was finished.

Fuck, I can remember being that pissed off.  I think it was last week.  Haha, no, I am kidding, but remember what it felt like to feel your emotions like that, completely unadulterated and feral.  I mean, I am really glad I gained some self control, but fuck I had to admire the girl's lung capacity and intensity.  She gave it a fucking go.  Alas, her parents had better boundaries than she had stamina.  Nevertheless it was an impressive show of emotional warfare that ended peacefully. Now, maybe that family can show our government how it is done.

Anyway, I digress.

What was I talking about?  Oh, yes, the balloons.

It was nice to spend time yesterday with a dear friend watching hundreds of balloons alight into the sky.  It was good to be back in a place that once was home to me.  It was a lovely sunrise.  I will tell you when the sun kisses the sides of hundreds of balloons, it is something to witness.  And the special shapes!  So much creativity!  So cool to see a giant alien and a cow floating through the air.  It is surreal, in a good way, which is a nice reprieve to our country’s current surrealness that feels like a Salvador Dali painting more each day.

It felt good to be present enough in my life to be here, to own this life of mine and revisit a home I knew 20 years earlier.  I am back in the state that ushered me into marriage and motherhood.  I got married in Placitas and had my son in Albuquerque.  It is true you can’t go home again, but it is really very nice to visit. And to witness who you used to be and take notes on how you are no longer that version of yourself, but you are indeed, a more evolved person because of that particular place in time.

I am so very thankful for my life, for all the twists and turns, for all the lessons and blessings.  I am so very happy to be here, alive and relatively sane. Capable of loving something so simple, pure and lovely as watching hundreds of balloons take flight in the early dawn hours of a random Friday.

Life is good, and hot air balloons absolutely are evidence of that!

Again, still...