When did technology become so inhibiting? At what point did texting and facebook chat take the place of casual, or not so casual phone conversations?

After a six-month hiatus from practicing beginner yoga, I decided to finally start using the countless number of online coupons I had accumulated, especially because they were about to expire. I had a few nearby studios …

Trusting people is not-so-easy.

Keeping sanity sometimes means doing away with pesky gadgets.

At first I blamed Piper. I thought maybe she reminded me of someone. Then I thought that maybe she reminded me of a time or experience. Perhaps I ruined a date or broke up during a screening of Coyote Ugly?

Pac-Man often comes to mind as the image for that general feeling of loneliness when not in love, or Ms. Pac-Man as the case may be.

I suggested that we save the final balloon for anyone who had been forgotten, and as the rest of the family shouted their greetings of good riddance, I watched the over-inflated red balloon waft into the sky, making my own silent declaration of freedom.

Part of me thinks it sounds too easy. But, maybe it’s supposed to be that easy. After all, it’s usually our own choices that put us in these situations where we feel trapped by difficult things or people. It’s something that’s been weighing heavily on my mind lately, like a balloon filled with gravel instead of air, and the ceremony felt so cosmically ordained that it took all of my years of theatrical training to hold myself together and stay detached they way I typically do when my family is around.

So in the wake of the family balloon sacrament, I’m continuing on my own journey with no lofty expectations other than the fragile, but secure knowledge that I am one red balloon lighter than yesterday.

Are my boyish limitations an impediment to emotional maturity?