A girl and her balloon

It had been a rough week for Chloe. She had been pushing the limits, testing the boundaries and just acting like a 5 year old. Mommy was tired, busy and sometimes acting like a 5 year old. It was a hard week.

I decided there was only one thing to do - take my little drama queen out on a date. Thankfully it was her month for a date with Mom. It is my goal to take one child out each month just to spend one on one time with me. It doesn't always happen, but I try. My "date" gets to pick where we go... with some guidance from me of course, and Chloe chose Dairy Queen.

DQ is the perfect place for Chloe. Not only does this particular one have an awesome play area, Chloe LOVES ice cream. There really isn't any other place she'd rather be! So, Saturday after lunch, Chloe and I made our way to Dairy Queen to spend some girl time together. We ordered our ice cream and sat in the play room to watch TV. Dinosaur Train. Chloe is so funny. She wanted chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in a cone. Well, Dairy Queen doesn't do that! But, a smart lady beside me suggested I order the small blizzard and a cone on the side. Bodda-bing-bodda-boom, there is was. I was able to scoop her some dough bite ice cream into her cone. She was one happy girl.

After Chloe spent some time playing, we decided to head off to Wal-Mart to buy some flowers for a friend. While we were there, Chloe, my little drama queen, fell in love with a butterfly balloon. It was HUGE, colorful, and sparkly. I wanted to give her something special to remember our happy day together, so I let her get it. Her eyes were about as big as the butterfly when she realised I was buying it for her. I later heard her tell the story to Isaac...."And Mommy said, 'I'll get it for you because you're my special girl.' "

She giggled all the way home with her gift. She was thrilled to show her brothers, and she was so good to share it with them. The butterfly went everywhere with Chloe, but she was very gentle with it. And then before church the very next day, we noticed the butterfly was not fluttering as high as she once was. To make a long story short, we watched the colorful mylar balloon die a slow and painful death. Actually, it wasn't that slow. But, it was painful.

Chloe handled it better than I thought she would. She sweetly asked her me to take "one last picture" of her with her balloon. She let each of the boys hold it and she said her good-byes. Did I mention that she is a drama queen? Anyway, I thought she was good and done with her display of emotion. And then bedtime rolled around. Poor little thing cried and cried, it was so hard to watch her 'grieve' over her loss. I began to tell her about things we should be happy for. We would always have the mylar to hang on her wall. She had a great couple of days with her balloon, and it would always remind her of our date. And we prayed, thanking God for the time we got to enjoy with it. She started to feel a bit better, but she did cry herself to sleep.

The next day I wondered if I shouldn't try to return the balloon. Through a lot of thought, advice seeking, etc. I decided to go ahead and try. The lady at the store was very kind, but there wasn't another butterfly balloon to exchange. And I knew Chloe would want to keep the mylar. So, I didn't exchange or return it. I don't know WHY she did this, but while I was back looking for other balloons, the lady at the service counter finished the job of deflating the balloon. She sliced it with scissors. She felt terrible when I said I wouldn't be exchanging it after all. But, after looking at the damage, I knew it was still okay to hang on the wall in Chloe's room.

And now the part I have regretted since it happened....I went and bought Chloe a much smaller balloon. I should have just left it alone, just explained what happened, just let her enjoy her butterfly on the wall. But, I couldn't stand the thought of going home with her wounded friend. At least another balloon would soften it for her. And it did.

What would you have done?