At any rate, when I was waiting on this woman a month or so ago, her daughter was very curious, getting closer, getting into all of the stuff, and all the while, edging that nasty, nasty balloon closer and closer to me. Finally I took a step back and said -- to her mother, or maybe just to myself -- "I'm sorry. I'm just really afraid of balloons." And this woman was so fucking great! No judgment, no staring at me like I was from another planet, she just calmly and matter-of-factly asked her daughter to stand a few feet away, said I was afraid of balloons, and said that they had to be respectful of that. How great is that?
So fast forward to today. Today I noticed a woman and a child walk into the store, the child holding a balloon. And sure enough, they came through my line, and wouldn't you know it -- it was the exact same mother and child! I told her I was afraid of balloons, and she instantly apologized, saying she had forgotten (which was when I realized it was the same woman). Apparently her daughter goes to a lot of birthday parties at the gymnastics school upstairs, hence the constant stream of balloons. I laughed about it a lot, because, really, what are the odds? And again, she had her daughter keep a safe distance, but yes, it still made my heart go pitty-pat, just the same.
So there you go -- I'm the crazy balloon lady. Mock me all you want, but balloons are scary as hell!
