I checked one off my bucket list today. You know, those lifetime milestones itemized to experience before our lives end – a strange yet wonderful moment in time that I didn’t realize would be so entirely meaningful for me.
We all have those defining moments in our lives when time seems to place a core memory that instantaneously registers a “never to forget” marker. It happened to me as the sun streaked the sky with razor-sharp edges of red, orange, and pink. The sound of the roaring flames as balloon after balloon began to take shape covered the field. It was the 51st Annual Helen to the Atlantic Balloon Race & Festival in Helen, GA.
The camaraderie among balloonists flows through the air like the mist from the morning dew with the echoes of warm greetings from one another. Even though I was a newbie, I felt as if I’d come back to a reunion, and there were no strangers. I spoke with enthusiasts who have been coming to the Helen to the Balloon Race & Festival for 48 years and some who just woke up this morning and decided to start a new tradition. Young and old alike, we all fit together by this centuries-old invention.
Catherine Cleiman and her son Cole of the Helendorf Inn, Suites & Conference Center introduced me to Tom and Jessica Warren, owners of Aviation Ranch in Cordele, Georgia. They graciously agreed to take me up in their hot air balloon. The two worked together in tandem. Both pilots prepared for the ride and their warmth and hospitality put me instantly at ease. My only anxiety centered around climbing in the basket. I had Googled how to get in a balloon basket without looking like an idiot. Vivid dreams of ending up on some YouTube channel with millions of hits as I tumbled into the wicker contraption haunted me.
Tom reassured me, “Have you ever ridden a horse?”
“I have,” was my answer.
“Then you will do just fine.”
And I did.
The ascension surprised me – not out of fear or queasiness – but the cheers from the crowd of people who became smaller and smaller as the sky welcomed us. Claps and shouts could still be heard even though the distance grew between the balloon and the ground.
And suddenly, in dreamlike fashion, I was suspended above the places I call home, looking at hues of green brighter than I’d ever seen.
“This has to be what God sees when He looks down on us,” I said to the empty air.
The silence and stillness is unexpected and my pilot, Tom Warren, smiled at my marvel. Every trip in a Hot Air Balloon is new and different even though he and Jessica have been at it for close to 30 years. A balloonist has little control over the direction of the balloon. The pilot learns to navigate the path by the direction of the wind. For me, the lack of control reminded me of life. We can think we know exactly where we are going – the turns, the bumps, the obstacles – but the reality is, it’s all in how we navigate what comes our way.
It is becoming a lost art with so many new distractions that can occupy us. Tom and Jessica want very much to keep it all alive. That is what drives them to have Aviation Ranch and to help others develop a passion for the art of ballooning.
When we landed, Jessica was less than five miles away in their truck, having tracked Tom and me. We loaded up and headed back for a traditional ceremony – a first-ride ceremony.
In Tom’s ceremonial toast, he quoted the Balloonist’s Prayer
May the winds welcome you with softness.
May the sun bless you with its warm hands.
May you fly so high and so well that God
joins you in laughter and sets you gently
back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.
The Helendorf Inn, Suites & Conference Center hosts the Helen to the Atlantic Balloon Race & Festival. Catherine and Cole bring it all to life for those who dare to venture out. May 30th, 6:30 p.m., May 31st, 6:30 a.m. & 6:30 p.m., June 1st, 6:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. Come and enjoy what can only be described as phenomenal.
On days like today, I wish I’d spent more time writing poetry, maybe I could find the words to tell you what my heart so longs to say. In our beautiful rural area, something far greater than we could ever imagine happens once a year. You do not want to let this moment pass you by.
