As the Cedarhurst Senior Living hot air balloon began to rise above Forest Park in St. Louis, Karen Lindner turned toward the ground with a smile and waved.
Below, friends and family waved back.
For Karen, a resident of Cedarhurst of Tesson Heights, it was a moment years in the making. She had climbed aboard a hot air balloon once before, but that balloon was tethered to the ground and never went anywhere.
This time was different.
Karen was taking flight during the Great Forest Park Balloon Race as part of Cedarhurst’s Dream Come TRUE program, choosing the experience in remembrance of her mother-in-law, Rose Marie.
“I was so happy I got to go up in the balloon in memory of her,” Karen said afterward.
Her flight capped a weekend in St. Louis built around a fitting theme for Cedarhurst: Where Dreams Take Flight.
Where Dreams Take Flight
Throughout the Great Forest Park Balloon Glow and Race, Cedarhurst invited visitors to think about dreams of their own. At the Cedarhurst booth, guests wrote something they hoped to experience or accomplish on colorful hot-air-balloon cards and added them to a growing Dream Wall.
By the end of the weekend, 300 dreams covered the wall.
Some were ambitious. Others were wonderfully simple. Each represented something meaningful to the person who stopped long enough to write it down. More than 1,000 people visited the Cedarhurst booth Friday evening alone, part of an estimated 90,000 people who attended the two-day event.
For Cedarhurst, the idea behind the wall mirrored something happening every day across its communities.
“Dream Come TRUE is about learning our residents’ stories, their passions and the things that are meaningful to them, and then finding ways to bring those experiences to life,” said Ryan Davis, Cedarhurst Corporate Communications Manager. “Every dream is different. It’s about creating meaningful experiences and memories for our residents and their families.”
The weekend also highlighted another way residents at Cedarhurst of Tesson Heights have turned an idea into an experience all their own.
On Friday evening, eight members of the community’s resident-led cheer team took the main stage at Emerson Central Fields. In front of the Balloon Glow crowd, the team performed two cheers before dancing to “Dancing Queen,” bringing plenty of energy and an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
Karen is a member of the cheer team herself. She also serves as a Resident Ambassador at Tesson Heights, and adventure has long been part of her story. She and her husband, Michael, spent six years participating in the Senior Olympics, competing in bowling, shuffleboard, miniature golf and bocce ball.
Her story captured plenty of attention throughout the weekend, too. Karen shared her excitement about the upcoming flight with all three St. Louis television stations, FOX2, KSDK and KMOV, as cameras followed the story leading up to Saturday’s race.
But when Saturday arrived and it was finally time to climb aboard, Karen did not hesitate.
There were no signs of nerves as she climbed into the basket and prepared for takeoff. Her son Johnathan, who also lives at Cedarhurst of Tesson Heights, was there to watch, along with fellow residents and members of the Tesson Heights team.
Then, the balloon lifted from the ground.
Karen waved to everyone below before turning her attention to a view she had never experienced before.
Her favorite part? Seeing Forest Park from above.
“The pond was so pretty,” Karen recalled.
The adventure was not over when the balloon came back to earth. After navigating around trees and wires near a subdivision, the balloon made a landing before the chase crew could reach them. Neighbors came outside and helped hold the balloon down until the crew arrived.
It was another memorable chapter in a day Karen will not soon forget — one that included meeting people throughout the event and even joining all the balloon pilots for dinner after the race.
Karen's is Just One Dream of Many
Karen's flight was one of more than 50 Dream Come TRUE experiences Cedarhurst will help make happen in 2026, including seven hot-air-balloon rides. Other residents have gone skydiving, experienced NASCAR rides and pursued adventures inspired by their own interests and stories.
For Davis, Karen's weekend captured exactly what the program is meant to celebrate.
“Karen is a great example of what Dream Come TRUE is all about because this experience was personal to her,” Davis said. “She had been in a balloon before, but it never left the ground. This time, she got to actually take flight in remembrance of Rose Marie.”
For one weekend in Forest Park, hundreds of people stopped at the Dream Wall and imagined where their own dreams might take them, while getting a glimpse of what Cedarhurst is all about: celebrating each person’s story, passions, and possibilities.
Karen got to find out. And this time, there was no tether holding her down.
This story will appear in the Fall 2026 issue of Flourish Magazine.
About the Author
Ryan Davis is the Corporate Communications Manager at Cedarhurst Senior Living and the writer behind every story in Flourish® magazine. He holds a Communications degree from Indiana University and brings 19 years of experience to his role, which he began in January 2024. Ryan is passionate about storytelling, especially sharing the meaningful lives of Cedarhurst residents, families, and staff. He hopes each published story becomes a treasured legacy for loved ones.
