The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade is a hobby club with a couple dozen members – some adults, some children – who like to watch balloons circle the globe.
GALESBURG — My mother’s breathing was ragged.I held her left hand with each labored gasp.My dad, her husband of almost 59 years, gripped her right.As she breathed slowly, shallowly, my dad cried out, “Save a place for me in heaven.”Tears fell down the face of my sister, who sat at the foot of the bed.We watched 79 years of life and an 11-year battle with breast cancer come to an end.Our mother was gone.The pictures on the bedroom wall spoke to what was important to mom: family.Photos of each of her three children and their partners on their wedding days stood like sentinels overlooking her bed.