Our Rheesey Balloon

On February 15, 2011, the day after Valentine's Day, Chad took Rheese up to Fry's with him.  When they got home, Rheese had this great, big heart balloon that said, "Happy Valentine's Day" on it.  They just gave it to him because Valentine's Day was over.  It had a clip on the bottom and he clipped it to something in the game area so it wouldn't fly to the ceiling.  It was there until last summer when it was accidently let go and it floated to the ceiling where it stayed.  We couldn't get it down because of how tall our ceilings are but we liked seeing it there, watching over us.  The balloon just stayed in it's own little corner of the living room only moving a few feet.  We started wondering how long it would stay up there and Seth said that he wondered if it would come down on March 11th, the day Rheese left for his eternal home.  I remember kind of laughing and thinking, "Ya, right, what are the odds of it coming down on that day and balloons don't stay up that long", but saying, "Wouldn't that be kind of weird if that happened."  As the months passed we all started wondering if it would indeed stay up until then.  We also began to think of the balloon as a reminder that Rheese was there, watching out for us.  On February 15, 2012, a year after Rheese brought it home, this is where the balloon was, right where it had been all along and where it stayed until March 4th.

March 4th was the Sunday before the 11th.  It was Fast Sunday and both George and I bore our testimonies.  It was a church service filled with the Spirit and wonderful lessons from our teachers.  When we came home from church I went right upstairs.  When I came around the corner at the top of the stairs I almost ran into the balloon.  The balloon had never gone in the hallway before.  Tears came to my eyes and I felt Rheese was telling me that it was ok, he was there and he was ok.  I took the balloon and pushed it back into the living room.  Later on that evening it was back in the hallway and I again pushed it back to the living room.  We really started wondering if it would come down on March 11th.  

On Mon., March 5th, I came out of my room and the balloon was right next to Chad's door.

As I was standing there the balloon started to go down.  It then went under the doorway and into Chad's room, then rose back to the ceiling.  I think my eyes got as big as saucers because I had never seen a balloon do something like that.

We put it back into the living room but it continued to hang around the stairs.

On the evening of March 6th, the balloon came down.

George decided to take the string off of it and it went back up, right to where it had been during the week. 

Since the balloon was just hovering in the living room, I always felt that Rheese was saying that he had been there watching over us for the past year but it was time for him to move on and take care of other things he needed to do because we were ok.  Not that he wouldn't ever be with us again, but maybe not as much.  George even said to me, "Is he telling us he's leaving?"

Over the next couple of days we would find the balloon in various places.  At one point I came downstairs and couldn't find it.  My heart sank and I asked where it was.  One of the boys went to find it and it was down the hallway by Seth's bedroom.  They brought it back to the living room.  Once, I came out of my bedroom and it was poking thru one of the arches of the hallway.  It was kind of at an angle and looked like someone peeking around a corner.  I could see the great, big smile on Rheese's face and him saying, "Hi Mom!"  Then hear his little giggle.

On the night of Sat., March 10th, Lane came into our room telling us that the balloon was following him.  He said it was kind of scaring him.  We told him that it was nothing to be afraid of and to just think of it as Rheese being with him.  That seemed to satisfy him and he went into his room.  George and I were in our room with the door open and the balloon came in.  Lane said he watched it as it floated down the hall, it bumped into the picture of Rheese that is at the end of the hallway right next to our room, then it turned and came into our room.  

It floated to our bed and came right up to George.

We were in complete amazement as we were watching what was happening.

The balloon hovered in front of George for probably 30 seconds then floated back up to the ceiling.

It floated back to the doorway and stayed there until the next morning. 

I texted pictures of this and told my sister what it was doing.  She said, "There's no way Rheese isn't pulling the string of that balloon and laughing that we are so amazed at what it is doing."  I have to agree with her :).

In the morning, George had to move the balloon so he could shut the door.  It hovered in the middle of our room for a while as we got ready for church.  Once the door was opened, it went down the hallway.  When we got home from church we found the balloon in Troy's room, sitting on his rocking chair.  I was really bummed that I didn't have my camera because when I went to get it the balloon moved and this is where it was when I got back.

 The bottom of the balloon was touching the ground and it never went back up.

Our Rheesey balloon watched over us for an entire year.  Balloons don't stay up for that long and they definitely don't do the things this one did.  I don't believe in coincidence.  Everything happens for a reason.  I plan on framing the balloon and putting it on the wall way up high where it floated for a year, that way it will always be there as a reminder that Rheese is watching over us.