I joined a Facebook group called “Buy Nothing” in which members give and receive each other stuff. So today while I was cleaning up, I looked at the 18 helium balloons from earlier birthday celebrations this week and thought, “Oh hey, maybe I could offer those balloons to someone in that group.”
I took a photo and made a quick post.
Four people asked for some balloons. I suggested each person text me for the directions.
Two did so and then I realized that I would have to go before the balloon recipients would arrive. No problem, I thought. I’ll just leave them outside. I even labeled each of the four bunches of balloons with the names of the four women who expressed interest.
I tied each bunch of balloons separately near my front door and drove away.
The first woman arrived to see a bunch of balloons flying into the sky.
The second woman arrived to find two bunches of balloons left, but not the one with her name on it.
The third and fourth women did not stop by. One texted me using transposed numbers, so I obviously did not respond, having not received the text. The other never got back to me at all.
So, I started with 18 balloons. Twelve balloons floated away. I have six balloons left. Supposedly one of the women will come by in the morning after 8 AM for three balloons.
This reminds me of a Common Core math word problem where it doesn’t matter what number you end up with as long as you can describe what happened. How many balloons do you have if you start with 18 and then 12 float away and 6 remain? How many women are annoyed when they drove to your house to get balloons only to find none waiting? How many women will text you but not show up? What happened to the 12 floating balloons? How many balloons did I give away?
What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow . . . ?
I have so many questions.
Actual Unretouched Photo 