Hot Air

When I was young and still living in Tehachapi one of the things I remember was the hot air balloons that used to fill the sky once a year. It was so beautiful to see the huge flying contraptions lifting and setting down like feathers caught in the slight morning breeze. I used to watch them longingly from my bedroom window as they floated above the lakes and hills, houses and trees.

However, after last year my dreams of flying were laid to rest. I became scared of heights for fear that I would jump. If I were placed on anything but the 1st floor of a hotel I squeezed myself against the wall as I rushed to the elevator. I refused to open the window and felt my heart in my throat everytime I stepped out.

So back in April when my boyfriend got me up at an unholy hour and suprised me with a hotairballoon ride, I was more than a little nervous and even a little thankful when it was called off due to wind.

I thought I was off the hook until my boyfriend now my fiance told me that the hot airballoon company called him up and rescheduled the flight. Again my fears came back, resurrected with the hot air balloon ride.

After awhile my fiance and I broke up but because he had already paid for it and because neither of us had any hard feelings for eachother we decided to meet again for the scheduled ride. Well, Saturday June 26th came and again I found myself awake before the sun. I tried to be in bed by 8:30pm and I was but ended up laying there untired and most awake until 11:30pm. 4:00am came way too early but suprisingly I wasn't all that tired.

We drove an hour to Tracy and were 10 minutes late but they waited for us and we finally arrived. We got out of the car, met the two other people we would be flying with, an elderly couple whos daughters had given them the flight as a Father's day gift.


As they turned the gondola(the basket part of the balloon) and used a big fan to fill the baloon with air my nervousness started again. Would I be ok? Would I be able to be at such heights and not have the thoughts of self-harm. What was worse is that they made us sign a waiver that warned that such a flight was "perilous" and "could result in death". The waiver released them from any liability.

The balloon filled and fire spouted from nozzel. After saying a short prayer I got in into the gondolla and we took our positions. The captain told us to hold on tight and then he fired the torch for some long moments. The closeness of the flame I felt upon my head and it smelled as if I were blowdrying my hair. We lifted off the ground and though it was as smooth as silk my stomache turned.

As we rose higher and higher I grabbed tight to the ropes and looked down. I prayed and wrapped my other arm around Rossam's. The flight was wonderful and I had lots of fun. The best parts were the landings in which the captain would shout "hold tight" and the balloon would touch down giving us a little jolt only to rise up again and skip across the ground like a stone skipping across the water.

The Captain radio his ground crew to come pick us up in a field and low and behold the truck they were using got stuck in the mud on a small dirt road a few hundred feet from where we landed. I thought it quit hilarious but kept my giggles to myself.

While waiting for the captain to return from his ranch, which was a couple miles down the road, to get his other truck, the crew worked hurriedly to get the balloon in its carrying case. They then recruited Rossam to help them carry the gondola to the nearby road. He aggreed and the four of the carried the huge basket through the field... only to have Rossam fall into a ditch. lol


Once the other truck arrived and we made it back to the airport the captain poured us a small glass of champagne, pinned a balloon pin onto our shirts, and handed us a flight completed certificate. It was a great time and a wonderful experience thanks to a little prayer, a little healing, and a great God.