LEWISTON — The Sun Journal received nearly 60 essays in response to its writing contest to win a balloon ride for two at this year’s Great Falls Balloon Festival.

The essays were heartfelt, and many of the writers made it clear they were entering the contest to gift a ride to a mother, a daughter, a friend, a father, a brother.

We heard from 16-year-old Faith Shaw of Lewiston, who loves writing and has dreamed of flying in a hot air balloon. “I feel like looking down from a hot air balloon would be even more thrilling than just the top of a mountain.”

We heard from Richard Sabine of Lewiston, who wrote about the fact that the excitement and anxiety of flying “is foreign to our nature, to feel separated from gravity.”

Maine Forest Ranger Jay Bernard of Peru wrote about our collective wishes to do or accomplish great adventures, to feel what life has to offer, “before we run out of air.”

Many writers recounted their experiences of chasing balloons over the past 19 festival years, and Judy Smith of Lewiston wrote about her ride in a balloon last year. “It was,” she wrote, “the most glorious thing I have ever done, with the exception of having my children.”

We heard from a lot of parents who wanted to share a ride with a child, and from children who wanted to share a ride with parents. We heard from wives who wanted to surprise their husbands, and husbands who wanted to do something special for their wives.

We heard from aspiring writers, from oldsters checking off a box on their bucket lists and from dreamers — including Lewiston High School student Kassandra Alimandi — who wanted to ride “just to forget all the troubles of life and be at peace with the heavens.”

Lois Lefebvre of Leeds, who broke her neck in March, endured multiple surgeries to repair the damage and now lives with two rods and 10 pins in her neck. At age 67, she looks back on a lifetime of daredevil bungee jumping and hang-gliding, but wrote that she would “love an opportunity to float with the clouds, see the other balloons at eye level, and go where the wind takes me.”

What we heard most of all is that the Great Falls Balloon Festival, its color and its spectacle, is a much-beloved summer event in the Twin Cities.

We thank our readers for sharing their writing, their hopes and their dreams.

Among the many, many inspiring and creative essays we have selected a winner: He is 31-year-old Thomas May of Auburn and Brunswick.

May’s winning essay describes the deep love of his mother, Ann May, and gives her credit for helping him deal with the loss of his sight in early adulthood.

May was in middle school when he first needed glasses. Then, he said, his eyesight “started to slip away and kind of get worse and worse.” Surgery didn’t help repair the damage to his retinas.

A 1999 graduate of North Yarmouth Academy, May graduated from Notre Dame and earned a degree in conflict resolution from the University of Denver in 2005. 

After graduating from Denver, he traveled to Jerusalem where he worked for Seeds of Peace, a nonprofit organization based in Otisfield that helps teens from regions of conflict learn the skills to make peace.

After returning to Maine, he worked with children attending Nature’s Classroom, a New-England-based, residential summer-camp-style environmental education program, where children blend hands-on outdoor activities with academics.

In addition to receiving two balloon ride tickets, May will write about his experience at the 20th anniversary of the Great Falls Balloon Festival for the Sunday, Aug. 19, edition of the Sun Journal.

jmeyer@sunjournal.com

A Ride for Mom

By Thomas May

Ever since my mom saw the balloon take off and drift softly up into the sky at the Auburn balloon festival last year, she has dreamed of one day taking a ride in a hot air balloon.

She explained to me how the balloon had slipped silently into the sky, the brilliant colors flashing in the morning sun. She wondered how the world would look, from way up there.

My mom has been my pair of eyes and stuck by me since I became blind. She has spent hundreds of extra miles in the car, given up her time to take me here and there.

She has put up with my garbage, so many of my tears.

She says it is the love of a mom. Any mother would do the same. No, Mom, you are special. How can words express how much I value having a mom such as mine?

She does so much for me out of love, expecting nothing in return except my love.

This is a writing contest to win a ride in a hot air balloon.

I would love to soar in the sky, but I am sure that my mom and a friend would enjoy the experience more.

If I win this contest, I would give the ride to my mom’s friend and her because, after all of those extra hours riding in the car, my mom deserves her ride in a hot air balloon.

Thomas May of Auburn and Brunswick is the son of Ann May.

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