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| photo by clipartsheep.com via googleimages |
I’m not sure if I was the only one who saw it. But I am sure
I am the only one who did anything about it—the red, heart-shaped
helium balloon trapped with a string beneath the branches of a very tolerant
looking tree. And when I did, I shared it with the only human option, the man walking right beside it as I passed him on my morning jog.
“You know what this means, don’t you?” I said to him, this
friend I had never met, my eyes looking first at him then into the branches of
the aforementioned tree. “We have to set our hearts free, to unleash the love...” And after I giggled a bit, I kept right on going. After all, it was my
morning jog.
But as I ran away, I realized that he might not have seen
the balloon. He might not have even known what I was talking about. And then I
started to wonder, dreamy-eyed me, if I had made it all up. Maybe there wasn’t
a balloon. Maybe my imagination had fooled me. Maybe I had finally taken this
running business too far.
So as I rounded another lap and found this friend I had
never met ahead of me for a second time, I decided I would ask him.
“Did you see what I was talking about or just think I was
crazy?” I stopped running to hear his response, my breath only slightly slowing
down.
“I didn’t at first but after you left, I took a closer look.
You meant the balloon, right?
“I did! So you saw it! Is it still there?”
“It is and I’ve decided you are right. I’m going to try to
free it the very next chance I get.”
“Yay!” I said, outstretching my arms in victory. “I can’t
wait to see her fly free! Just think of all the people who will see her, of all
the messages she will share, of the love you will grow! Hooray!” I sang as I
ran on, his smiles warming my back.
And so he did. He set that red, helium heart-shaped balloon
free. And she flew up into the highest sky I had ever seen!
“Look! Do you see her? Do you see her? You know her message
is for you, don’t you?” I said to everyone I passed. “Share the love, set your
own heart free, love . . . more. That’s her message—to you, to me!”
To You.
To me.
