Wendy Malley Photography

All parents want their children to be happy.

Rachel’s one request for her graduation was to have 100 red balloons. (“You know mom, just like the song, – only one more”…)  She said this as a joke when I asked her what she wanted for graduation, but I remembered hearing her say this years ago when getting ready for a birthday party so I knew it was one of those things that she really did want but knew she wasn’t going to get.

So, while it seemed like a completely frivolous thing to spend money on, the closer graduation got, the more I thought about renting a tank of helium and giving her her “100 red balloons” .   She never mentioned the balloons again, but a  few days before graduation, I decided to make a few calls and found a tank that I could rent….

Our society seems to mark graduation as the milestone when children turn into adults.  When they are young, parents can, for the most part, control their child’s happiness.  The more a chld grows the more grown up and complicated their problems become.

My 5 year old thought she had reached nirvanah this week, when she learnt to swing  by herself on the new swing daddy made for her in our back yard.  The problems of a 19 year old can be “just a bit” more challenging….

What wouldn’t a parent give to be able to protect their child from all the heartache and disappointments that are so much a part of growing up?  As I was filling the balloons with helium, I kept thinking how nice it would be if all we needed to  guarantee our children’s happiness in life was to give them 100 red balloons?

I realize that all despite all my efforts in  filling this balloons, they will only last for one day; but for THIS day, at least, I can ensure that my daughter is happy.  That’s something I’ll not have the chance to do very often in the future…