Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Balloons

When I was a kid, I couldn't tie balloons for the life of me. I blame it on small fingers. Okay, so maybe the logical thing to say is that small fingers should make it *easier* to tie those darn knots, but c'mon. My sister could tie balloon knots, and her hands were four years bigger, so the problem was surely my small fingers and not my general lack of motor skills. Both of which (the small-ness of finger and general lack of fine motor skills) continue to this day.

But I digress. Back to those balloons. Since I couldn't tie them, I'd spend all my little lung power on blowing them up, and then they would immediately deflate and fly all over the room because I would fumble the end, and inevitably drop it. And then I'd try again - blow the balloon up, try to tie it, slip, and the balloon deflates.

That is the best metaphor I have for how my energy works this time of year. I am still capable of getting energy worked up around an idea or a project or a task. I can build enthusiasm and focus... but then, something keeps slipping, and fffffffffttttttttt - all the air is gone again. I just can't hang on quite long enough to tie that knot on my brain.

Of course... once in a while, watching ballons fly all over the room can be fun. As long as you don't break the vase on the piano.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did you know that someone invented (between my childhood and now) a little board for tying balloons easily? It is so cool!

And yeah, I get that way this time of year too. A bit less since I moved out here, but I still feel it. I know it isn't Lent, 'cause that moves around. It can't be the cold or the short days (which are getting longer back where I used to live--and here, really)...

Anonymous said...

Balloons!

Yeah, this time of year blows.

kwpershey said...

I'm SO feeling this metaphor.

(Even if it is 70 degrees here.)

:-)

Anonymous said...

Great metaphore!

I always had trouble getting those babies tied too. It hurt my hands.

For me, its the weather and the gray skies that make me feel ffffffttttttt.