Balloons, a business not to be taken lightly. (Swiss Hero)

While Jean is away on a retreat to write a long article on the best spas in America, but unfortunately for her, not at a spa, Patricia is learning life lessons on her own.
It all started with a key situation. (Another key situation. For the record, over the scope of the few weeks she has lived at the Bay Street Rehab center, she has managed to 1. lock her keys inside the apartment; 2. return her rental car with her house keys still attached to the rental car key chain; 3. …) After forcing the lock in the freezing cold for 10 minutes, Patricia rang the neighbor’s doorbell for help. Patricia is confused because the lock is not frozen. What could be wrong with the key that she has been using these past couple of weeks? After a thorough investigation, involving several spare keys, Patricia and the neighbor realize that Patricia had used her office key instead of the house key (next key on the key chain.) That situation solved, a conversation sparked.
Let’s just rewind for a minute and recall all the smart comments Patricia and Jean have made about the neighbor and her balloon business, always a smart grin on their faces. If they think more about it, that may have become a favorite topic of discussion between the two and in their blog. They remember the jokes about the helium tanks blowing up, the balloons everywhere, the huge truck in the driveway (that Jean and Patricia have to drive over the curb and onto the lawn to avoid and finally reach their driveway), the brain-damaged sister, the greasy, stringy blond hair and the huge, dirty plastic-frame glasses.
All of this, without realizing that all that time, their neighbor has a master plan that SpringBoost will envy. She is in fact a genius.
Their genial neighbor does not only have balloons all over her apartment, her back porch, her garage (and their garage), her truck; she also owns a 1000 square ft warehouse somewhere in town. One thousand square feet. She also has two full time employees (one Spanish for the Spanish community and one Jew for the Jewish community), a web master, partnerships with several flower shops, a database of hundreds of flower shops across the country and several large corporate accounts. And that’s the bottom of the iceberg!
Their genial neighbor is also an entrepreneur. She has big plans. She has her business plan all mapped out. She is setting up a brand new website where you, your friends, your family, Jean and Patricia will be able to send balloon bouquets for any occasions, anywhere in the United States of America. She has a strategy, suppliers, contacts and partners. Patricia will not disclose the details that were unveiled to her for lack of time (she was catching cramps while standing in the hall way) and to protect their neighbor’s plan.
Jean and Patricia will now have to either get a life of their own or find new topics of discussion.

Lessons learned:
- Don’t judge a book by its cover. They knew it but didn’t apply it to their neighbor.
- Make more spare keys *just in case*. Consider giving one to the neighbor.

Mood meter: sheepish