stepping over the line {part 2}

Way back here I promised that there would be more...

and then yesterday, I double promised...

When I asked the question about the balloons flying, the answer was maybe.  They were waiting for the fog to lift.  Balloons were inflated but still on the ground to conserve fuel just in case.  And then, just in case happened, the balloons were upright and the sky filled.  I could hardly breathe.  It was a dream come true... to see colors in the sky.

As the balloons were setting sail, Miss Daisy was coming down... and we were opening the petals we had sealed in the dark. 

I was torn... between wanting to help and wanting to see the sky in full color.  In my mind I was stretched out on a blanket gazing at the sky... but sometimes what you plan isn't as perfect as what actually happens.  With my camera around my neck we hustled around Miss Daisy and then, taking off our shoes, we shuffled along the silk helping the air find its way out...  The silk billowed up and around us and along with the air, joy and laughter bubbled forth.

I shuffled, looked up to the sky, and snapped shot after shot over the clouds of silk... all the while, laughing and knowing that there was no better view.    Perhaps all my life I have been a stand-on-the-sidelines kind of girl... but God has changed me for the better.  He has taught me that the gap between enjoying the view and dancing with abandon isn't as wide as I believed it to be... and that to accept that hand that is reaching to pull you across is a grace all in itself. 

My dream to sail over the treetops in a hot air balloon remains a dream... even though we flew high in a tethered balloon.  I loved being in that balloon, seeing the world from on high, but something in me has changed... and the seeing doesn't fill me like the doing. 

Hot, sticky and weary, it felt like afternoon as we walked out across the field, homeward bound...  and we were all amazed that morning would be around for another hour or so.  But the weary was a good weary and the sticky didn't stop my Mom from leaning in and whispering just how amazed she was at me stepping over the line of caution tape.  I smiled... and confessed a little fear, that there was a split second of hesitation.  But OH! there was a joy worth living on the other side and I wouldn't have changed one moment.  Not one.
 
did you miss part one?
and find some more photos here and yesterday's post...