My second birthday at a fancy restaurant (Tavern on the Green!). I was given a balloon, which for some reason was neither tied to my wrist nor my highchair, so naturally it floated up and away into the rafters. I remember being utterly perplexed as to why adults—who normally took care of everything—were unable to retrieve it on demand. (Heights were something I hadn't quite contended with, so the necessity of a ladder was literally beyond me.) Frustration, powerlessness, smallness, befuddlement... Annoying emotions at the time, but the vividness of the memory is very funny to me in hindsight.
Allison Tanenhaus