Hope Floats

My Maryn.

My Maryn is usually a joyful little soul. She laughs easily, is unaffected by some of the things that unravel her older siblings, and is just an all-around fun and funny little girl.

Lately however, her emotions have been working overtime and her heart has been a bit fragile. She misses her kindred spirit Jamie in California. She is SHOCKED at the injustices which allow Barrett and Maggie more freedoms, more play-dates, more FUN. Not much feels fair to Maryn. And in reality, this move has been tough on her. She has had some hard, disappointing, lonely days.

One of those days was Wednesday. A friend was in town and was heading to have lunch with Barrett and Maggie. Maryn wanted to join them and was absolutely beyond herself that she could not. She melted into a messy puddle of tears and whimpers and a few VERY loud shrieks in the car. Nothing I said or promised helped to ease her sadness. Not even an icecream date a little later in the afternoon.

We rounded the corner just a block from our house, and saw this.

Tears turned to raised eyebrows at a balloon literally floating down our street. "Mom, there is a balloon...just floating along...what in the world?!" We slowed the van, looked around for the owner of such a treasure, and soon gave into Maryn's great temptation to rescue the balloon from a very uncertain future in the middle of the street.

Maryn's sadness lifted, her tears dried, her shrieks of frustration turned into ones of bliss. Maryn loves balloons! She and Ivan played for hours with the balloon. And she felt special. Her disappoints diminished and SHE was the beneficiary of one of life's little surprise blessings. She is still telling people about the walking balloon that she found and rescued. It didn't take much to get our silly, fun-loving Maryn back.

While I am not expecting to come across too many more lonely balloons, I will be looking for the little blessings that come floating by each and every day.