There Will be a Time to Let Go

Sometimes, no matter how tightly you want to hold on to am memory, a smell, a person, a thing... Sometimes it's better if you let them go.

She grasped the floating, whimsical balloons tightly in her left hand, refusing to let them go no matter how the wind attempted to persuade her, the music it created causing the balloons to dance rapidly.  She knew they wanted to be set free, but she refused, holding them close to her, grounding them to the earth she stood on. They pulled and pulled, the way a child does when they disagree with their mother... She looked toward the sky, unsure of where the balloons would go, or why they would want to leave her.  What could be so much better up there?   All she saw was blank space. Beautiful perhaps, but empty, and terrifying.  What would become of her precious balloons?  She began to wrap the strings tighter around her hand, shortening their reach into the sky... As she focused on wrapping them, she lost focus on all else, and suddenly tripped and fell, her hand opening to catch herself.... Some of the balloons had escaped, and the others were close to leaving forever as well.  She began to cry, begging for them to stay with her as she stretched and jumped, catching the ones within her reach.  Without them, she would be alone... She could not float the way they could,... She could not dance on the wind, nor climb into the emptiness above.  She sat on the ground, afraid to move in case she let the last ones leave her once more.  She swore she would hold on to them with all her might, for fear that they would leave her here, alone on the ground... At least, with them here, she had company.
However, over time, the balloons began to sag, gravity weighing them down as they were denied their destiny.  The little girl watched as they slowly drifted lower and lower each day, no longer dancing to the rhythm of the wind, no longer even swaying to the beat...
Watching them grow heavy made her body sore, her heart hurting in frustration.  Attempting to give them one last chance, she stood atop a spire, balloons grasped tightly in her hand.  The wind picked up, and her light little friends perked up the tiniest bit, following the pull of the breeze.  She cried, and yelled, and stomped her feet... and as she did so, she let them go.  She wiped her eyes, refusing to let them out of her sight as they flew off into the sky.  She sat all alone, atop a spire, crying for her friends... Although she could not stay forever.  She looked up one last time and nodded towards their new destination, simply hoping that they truly had reached a better place.