Guest Post: They Told Me I’m a Kite

Guest Post by Amber Ethington

Photo by Shreeya Pradhananga on Unsplash

As a girl I was taught a story about a boy who flew a kite with his dad. They let the kite go and it soared up into the air. The boy gradually let the string out and the kite went higher and higher until the string was tight. The little boy was thrilled. Look how high the kite was! He said to his dad, “I want the kite to go higher! Cut the string so it will go higher!” The dad said no, if he did that the kite would fall. But the boy insisted and the dad cut the string. The kite fell to the ground.

I was taught that I am a kite. I need a string to fly. I need to stay grounded to the rules and traditions of my fathers. I need a man to hold the string.

I was an ambitious kite and I was good at flying. I flew as high as that string would allow and I enjoyed the beautiful view from those heights. For a long time I soared.

Then, one morning, I wasn’t flying as high. Someone had pulled the string and brought me a little closer to earth. I couldn’t quite reach the sky anymore. They told me the sky was dangerous. They pulled the string tighter and gradually, my view narrowed. But that was ok; I needed to stay tied to earth to weather the storms! After all, they could see things that I could not. They had to pull me down so I would be safe. They just wanted me safe.

Eventually I couldn’t see a view anymore. Just the ground growing closer and closer and the sky falling away above me.

Sometimes I would meet other kites. These kites had no strings. “Of course,” I thought, “it is just a matter of time before they fall. Kites need tight strings to fly.” But these kites didn’t fall. They told me that the views up there were terrifying, but also glorious. They told me I was meant to reach the stars.

I had been warned about these kites. Eventually these untethered kites would fall and they wanted me to crash to the ground with them! I believed this as hard as I could while I slowly saw the ground coming closer to me. I could barely lift my kite self above the trees anymore.

So I cut that string. And I floated into the air.

Turns out, I was a balloon all along.

Amber is a (mostly) stay-at-home mom and a voice teacher. She loves to sing, perform on stage, learn new skills, and read lots of books. She thinks libraries and mountains are sacred places: temples, if you will. She thinks personality tests are fun (ENFP and Enneagram 4!) and she enjoys reading tarot for herself and others. She left the church in 2022 and is now navigating life in a happy mixed-faith marriage.