R.I.P. Elderly Balloon

Next time you’re hosting a birthday party for your kid, try this experiment. Buy a pack of 18 or so ordinary balloons. Blow them up, hang them up, give some out to the party guests -- but then don’t throw away the ones that get left behind. Conduct a little experiment in balloon life spans with your birthday boy (or girl). Some will lose their air over the first several days. But others will linger and linger. And linger.

Here’s our last lone balloon from Will’s August 31 birthday (which did get postponed until September 5, thanks to a nasty diarrhea bug).

This little perky pink air vessel was our longest survivor at exactly 9 weeks old. We must have sensed that its demise was imminent because Will and I decided to take a photo of it last night. About one minute after this shot was taken, Will found a way to pop the thing -- and exhibited no regret.