The Purple Balloon

This past weekend, we finalized Abby’s grave marker and are happy with the design.  It will have her name, her birth date, death date, a quote “In the Arms of an Angel” gifted by my niece Melissa and a purple balloon!

As I’m sure you know, balloons for children are so much fun and for Abby's two celebration days, I wanted balloons in her honor.   My kids love balloons; they love catching them, blowing them up and popping them, all for a good laugh.   So what better way to create an atmosphere for children than to have party balloons as the theme!  We were going to go out and buy the balloons and set them up ourselves, but that felt overwhelming and burdensome.  (Imagine transporting 23 helium balloons in everyone's cars to the cemetery!)  Not to mention, there was no time.  So Roberto suggested we order them from a local balloon shop in town , "Balloons all Over", so off we went during our planning and preparation for her services.  The owner (I assume it was the owner) was sweet.  I explained that I wanted balloons for the funeral home, the cemetery and the church hall.  I specifically wanted pinks and purples.  I was worried about how they would look but she took care of the design.  She said "I just delivered balloons for three bar mitzvahs this morning, I've got this".  Thank goodness.  One less thing to have to decide and I was in a very allowing mood at that point!  When it came time to pay for them, I said "so when do we pay for these?".  Her response was "I'm all set".  I was a bit shocked and said again, "no seriously, when do we pay for these?".  She said " You are going to make me cry....I have four healthy kids and I can't imagine going through what you are going through".  She started to cry and I gave her a big hug and replied "Thank you so much.  That is very generous of you!!!".  We walked out in disbelief.  We were awe struck.  We strongly believe that what had just happened was because of Abby and realized that two gifts were given by her during this moment.  One was for me and Roberto.  Here we are burying a baby.  Financially that is a big undertaking.  Abby was telling us not to worry.  I've got this one covered!  The second gift was for that sweet woman.  Here she is, giving what God asks of us daily, an act of charity to two complete strangers during a very difficult time in their lives.  I am forever grateful for this act of kindness.

The day of the funeral, as we drove to the cemetery I saw an employee from the funeral home holding Abby's 23 balloons with conviction and strength!  23 balloons to represent the 23 short days of her life.  It was a boisterous gusty day.  He was so intent on not letting them go.  When we arrived, Father Houston gave a small prayer to conclude her blessings.  Then the man gave Roberto the balloons.  As the five of us held the balloons, I let my children know that Abby will be shining upon us always and if we ever needed her, to simply pray to her.  Then we counted down and let the balloons go.  They were scooped up by the wind instantly and all of a sudden one purple balloon let go from the rest of the pack.  My mom shouted "THERE SHE GOES!!"  It was breathtaking.  Everyone there believes that the single purple balloon in some way was Abby.  I am certain it was!! 

The book, “The Purple Balloon” was recently given to us by Roberto’s oldest brother, of which all proceeds go to critically ill children.  The book is about children, knowing that they are going to die.  I guess when children are asked to draw their feelings about their pending death, they often draw a purple or blue balloon!!  Abby let go of a single purple balloon that day.  Isn’t this uncanny?  The parallels are just incredible.  It just validates all that I believe in and my heart is tickled knowing that Abby sent us a message of love using her purple balloon.