The last day my mom went outside was to watch the hot air balloons from the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta drift by her home. ALS had it's grip on her and it wasn't letting go. She seemed to ignore her plight and revel in the beauty of the moment. The world stopped spinning briefly. Life was never sweeter. I hold on to the image of the morning she sat in her wheelchair and ate her favorite breakfast with her feeble hands. The day is still alive in me, it always will be.I learned not long ago I was selected to paint the image for the 2008 Poster for the Balloon Fiesta. Five years will have passed since the morning my mom breathed the crisp outdoor air. I am painting the image in her home, just 10 feet or so from where she last sat on her porch. It is the essence of her spirit I will launch this year in the paint, in the poster, in the sky.
Jerry Louise Burns
1925 - 2004
