My Life As A Balloon Girl

by Helia Melonowski

My story starts near the turn of the century, even though I didn't. My grandfather was a foreman at a latex/rubber manufacturing plant. During some rough years, they had to lay off a number of people, one of which was an old "gypsy" (that's what they called him, according to grandpa, because he was kind of a queer gnarled old backwoods fellow). My grandfather was the one in charge of letting the old man go, and there was quite a struggle to actually get this guy out of the plant when they told him the news. Grandfather said the gypsy spouted off all sorts of curses upon our family, one of which was said to have been that our family would be ruined by the very work from which the gypsy was being dismissed. A few months after that episode, the latex manufacturing plant did go belly-up. My grandfather stayed in the latex business running a small shop where my father and uncles worked; that eventually branched off into a small store and a gift shoppe--flowers, gift baskets and balloons--that my grandmother ran.

Some years later, I was born, the youngest girl of five kids--two girls and three boys. My mother said I was the fattest baby she ever saw. She said when I'd get upset I'd hold my breath and tense up until I was as red as a beet, my whole body quivering until she thought I might pop. Growing up I had this strange (and quite annoying) condition where if I'd scrape myself or prick myself I wouldn't bleed much, but I'd swell up as if the abrasion was infected. This led to me taking antibiotics for I don't know how long and having to be real careful about injuring or cutting myself.

When I hit puberty I was slightly slim, finally losing all that baby fat. I had a slight figure, but nothing substantial to speak of. When I was 14, I went to stay with my uncle and aunt who lived in the mountains in Colorado, going to school with my cousins for 8th grade. It took me quite a while to adapt to the thinner air up in the mountains. My relatives laughed at first as I would get winded very quickly and be gasping and gulping for air. Like I said, I didn't have much of a figure when I got there--but when I returned home, my family and friends noticed how I had changed after my stay in Colorado. I grown immensely and at 15, in 9th grade, was toting a huge pair of breasts (though they never seemed that heavy) and a shapely mid-section...though I always felt like my butt was too big, but I guess top and bottom were proportional. Throughout high school I was very active and my body seemed to fluctuate in size, even though I didn't lose any dramatic amount of weight. I was either kind of fat or slender on any given day, but BIG in certain places. It seemed in certain circumstances, if I willed myself, I could really control my body changes, though there were no real extreme changes going on.

I realized that there was something special about myself when I started working at the gift shoppe. One time I was playing with the helium tanks that we use to fill balloons for gift baskets and, just for squeaky-voiced fun, I took a "hit" of the air. Not only did I suddenly feel high and intoxicated by the stuff, but I felt all sorts of strange things happening within my body. I was surprised to find my skin tingling all over, and even in certain areas that were...very pleasurable to me. I didn't even know what I was doing to myself as I took several shots of the air until my brain felt like it was doing cartwheels in my head. When I finally quit, I was surprised to find my entire body had swelled up until the seams of my clothes were ready to tear! This scared me and I didn't try it again for a while...until it happened to me during a special occasion that I won't divulge to you right now because it is too personal. Let's just say that my first boyfriend sure was surprised.

I did tell my parents about what was happening, as they were noticing strange things about their youngest daughter. When my grandfather heard, he told us the story of the old gypsy, which he'd scoffed at and nearly forgotten about until then.

That is the most condensed version I can give you. Now I could tell you all sorts of short day-to-day life stories about my inflation "problem"; some are quite humorous and some are quite bizarre...all end with me blowing up to enormous proportions. I guess the annoying thing about it is that I still can't completely control how I will inflate or what part of my body--sometimes its my whole body and sometimes it's just my chest. I've always wanted a curvaceuos body; sometimes I get it tenfold. Having a family-owned business where I am able to get special knit latex clothing, however, my "little" problem isn't so awful.

There is no medical reason or evidence of my peculiar condition. But after years of living like this, with the ability to control the size of my body and even different areas of my body, I remain, day-by-day, happy to be unique.

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