Balloons and their symbolism...discuss

I was in a hurry this morning. I had things to do, places to be. But I had to stop at the grocery store for a quick minute to get some milk. We were almost out and I was going to be having breakfast when I got done my errands and I hate running out of milk for my cereal. I was sort of rushing after buying it, thinking of what the day would look like, if I would get the things done I had envisioned, focused on crossing the parking lot, when something flashed just overhead. Now, usually when something flashes overhead in this neck of the woods, it's a plane. We're on the landing pattern for a large airport, so planes are an everyday, no, hourly, occurrence. But this flash was closer and there was no engine noise. So I looked up. And saw a green, shiny, star-shaped balloon floating above the parking lot. The curious thing was this--there was not one crying child in the vicinity. You know what I mean, how a child whines and whines to be allowed to hold the balloon and as soon as their chubby little fingers get a hold of it, the ribbon escapes their grasp and they are left bereft, watching their treasure float off to join the airplanes. No child. The other interesting thing? It was not floating up. It was floating horizontally about 15 feet off the ground. It was very curious. I stood stock still for several moments watching it's slow and stately procession above the crowded lot and loft just above the trees which separate the shopping center from the local high school football field. It was mesmerizing, watching it take it's time, ambling along just slightly below the telephone and power lines. I couldn't imagine the science responsible for making this balloon sailing as it did. Wasn't helium supposed to be lighter than air? Shouldn't it have been racing up to the clouds towards its implosion in the upper atmosphere? I puzzled about it through the rest of the day. Stopping at various points and wondering if it was still traversing it's lateral path many miles from here. And if anyone else had taken the time to see it.