A small flight for mankind, a giant leap for my grandmother

Since the first hot air balloon flight in 1783 (which carried a sheep, a duck, and a rooster*), man has dreamed of soaring to new heights... but some more than others.

Meet Darlene Moehlenbrink:
Mother. Grandmother. Trickster. Care-taker.
Dreamer.Since her first sighting of a hot-air balloon, she has dreamed of taking the journey. But greater forces than her desire we working against her...
Mostly wind and rain.

Attempt #1: Sometime in the past two decades, my grandmother and grandfather went on a trip to Ohio. There my grandmother was going to make the flight. However, she didn't, and I don't really know the rest of that story. Sorry.

Attempt #2: In 2008, my sister and I received the call. Gma was going to the Hot-Air Balloon Festival in Topeka, KS, and we were invited to join her. The flight would be tethered, but we could at least step into the basket and float into the air. However, inclement weather prevented us from going.
Think that stopped my grandmother? Think again.

Attempt #3: 2012. Bus trip. Grandma invites her daughter and her grandchildren. It's part of the reason I came back from Slovenia when I did. To be a part of something HUGE.


Let me set the scene. We leave at 6:30 a.m. on a hot-Kansas morn, headed north to Beatrice, NE where we will continue with a bus full of old people (ladies, mostly), to the National Balloon Rally in Indianola, IA. The morning is beautiful as we chug along to our destination with a very old tour guide who, sad to say, did not keep her skilz with age.

We make a few stops as the whole bus... lunch at the 'Iowa Machine Shed', where we are served iced tea out of jars (dear Slovenes, I told you it happens) along with our fried chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. We head to the Des Monies botanical gardens, take our afternoon naps at the Holiday Inn (remember. Bus trip.), and head to Indianola- the place where some dreams really do come true.



I don't know how much you know about ballooning, but it's an expensive and difficult sport. Each balloon has a crew, and each balloon also has a sort of awesome name. Here are some examples of the balloons we saw:

(My personal favorite was the balloon shaped like an eagle, but we only saw that one during the night balloon glow.)

Now, on Friday, July 27th, the conditions were not entirely perfect. It was a windy day in Indianola, perhaps too windy- we had no choice but to wait in nervous anticipation. Would my grandmother be thwarted a FOURTH time? Would she have to surrender this dream??

A little wind doesn't stop Grandma Moehlenbrink.

And luckily, a little wind doesn't stop the Balloon Rides either. The winds slowed enough to let us jump into the baskets, but were roaring enough to give us a really fantastic ride.






Sometimes, you're lucky enough to have your dream come true. Keep soarin', grandma.

*And was, consequently the protocol for diversity posters.

Thieves

Well- it's over.
Last day of work on Monday. Goodbye Osnovna Šola Antona Tomaža Linharta...

On Wednesday I finished my final 'meeting' with my project team, and then rode away honestly singing the song 'Freedom' as I hustled toward my next meeting (coffee with the old men that sit in front of my (former) castle). And I really really do feel utterly free.

This has been a really wild experience for me: Living in a place that I love, being surrounded by people that I have come to love, being fed with food that loves me... and yet constantly struggling with a set of interactions that has really taken a toll on me during the last year.

Now, I am going to get back to that, but in typical-Nicole-style, I'd like to relate this to something I love, using a large metaphor that, most-likely, only I will understand.
Shawn Hunter's Graduation Speech. Now this isn't me getting overly-emotional about graduating (that was high school Nicole. Ask my mom about the many days when I would put on my cap and gown as a 17-year-old and just sob in front of the mirror). People graduate and move away and change- and I am now a huge fan of that. I now understand how critical it is to experience new things and people (and that it doesn't necessarily require you to break off old ties and connections, especially if they continue to form who you are)...

This blog post is about the content of what Shawn says as he's reflecting over a period of time in his life.
I could've done better.

I could've done better.

This was a hard year. I continuously struggled with some conflicts that just would not come to an end- even when I thought they had I was floored by the reality that the misunderstandings between us were so huge they just were not going to dissipate. So I gave up. But not in love. But not in grace. Not in anything else I would be proud of.

I'm not really pleased. And though I am still doing a little happy dance about this relationship being over, I am also asking myself where I could have done better, aside from how I was treated. How could I have been more gracious? It's utterly transparent that I could have loved more.

Don't get me wrong- I'm certainly not placing the blame solely on myself... nor am I regretting the experience that I had, but merely acknowledging that I have fallen super short of grace.

I could've done better.

And there is a song that captures what I am trying to say- it's called Thieves by Quiet Corral and it's my listen-to-on-repeat-song of the week:

we were born to be the thieves we are
so nothing’s safe

leave you crying but you should be thankful
we left you with your wife with your life
with your little ones
we might have taken you for all your worth
but it could have been worse 

As a natural optimist, I always see the glass half (more like 3/4) full. But I also hope for the best from everyone so strongly that I get these unfair expectations where I expect near perfection. I don't think that it's bad to hope for perfection, but maybe I do need to hope for perfection while also realizing that by nature we are thieves.