They Thought They Knew Me _ Until They Saw Me in the Air

Hi, I'm Mary.

I've always had my head in the clouds.

I could get so lost in my thoughts on the bus that I'd miss my stop.

Or I'd walk right past my own house and realize it three blocks later.

At school, whenever I drifted off into my daydreams, my classmates would say, classic Mary, always got her head in the clouds.

One day, our class decided to go on a hot air balloon trip.

I ran home and told my mom right away.

But she pulled out Jules Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon and handed it to me.

Here, read this.

It's basically the same adventure.

Flying in a real balloon is dangerous.

Brother Danny tried to stand up for me.

Mom, come on, let her go.

But mom didn't even turn around.

To be honest, I was used to it.

Ever since we were little, mom had always been scared for my brother and me.

When I mentioned my dream of sailing on a ship, I got Stevenson's Treasure Island.

When I begged my mom to let me try rock climbing, she gave me a book about climbers instead.

That pretty much sums up my childhood.

All my adventures happened in my imagination.

There was a boy at school I had a crush on, Bill, but he was dating my best friend, Cynthia.

Every night, I'd lie in bed and imagine Bill looking at me, saying, You're the one I've been looking for.

But in real life, we were just friends.

I never told him or Cynthia about my feelings.

Then one day during break, I saw Cynthia and Bill get into a heated argument.