Family Circus

We went to the circus tonight and my husband said, "I'm glad we did this. Now we don't have to do it ever again!"

It's easy to commiserate with him when it costs a family of 5 $80 just for tickets!!! What??!?!?! Since when did a night of family fun have to cost a mint? Although, watching their faces light up when the elephants came in the ring trunk to tail, it's almost worth the dough.

I've often wondered about circus people. Is it as romantic as we all thought as teenagers? You know, when you were so pissed off at your parents and their "totally unfair" treatment of you that you considered running away and joining the circus? You would discover that you had quite a talent for the trapeze. You started designing your glittery unitard with matching feather head dress. You just knew you were going to be so famous and so loved that your parents would come watch your act after many years of estrangement. They would see you flying through the air, with your costume glittering and the crowd cheering. They would be moved to tears and suddenly feel so bad for their shabby treatment of you. They would hug you and kiss you and tell you how they were so wrong, wrong wrong.

Well, part of me sees that dream and then the other part notices the trailers parked outside the circus venue. I doubt it's very glamorous traveling from city to city, living out of a trailer. I was imaginging tonight that there has to be some sort of circus people hierarchy. The ring master would have to be the big daddy of them all. Then you would have the Cossack and their glorious horses. You know they're revered (can you say hunka, hunka burnin' love?). Then the family of acrobats, the pretty girls who egg on the crowd and the motorcycle guys who ride like the devil in that metal sphere. Of course after the clowns I bet the whole class system would go down hill from there. The poor guys that haul around the equipment, setting up the stools for the elephants and carting it away and such. The souvenir folks are probably loooooow on the totem pole. Don't get me started on the poor bastard that has to clean up after the animals. So how do you suppose someone would come up with that life choice?

"No, I don't want to go to college, mom, I'm going to join the circus and sell snow cones in tiger cups for $10 a piece. Yeah, that's the life for me!" Or "I don't want to join the military, but I do want to travel...hmmm...I've got it! I'll join the circus and clean up elephant poo!"

I'm not knocking it. I think everyone has to figure out what's right and what works for them. It sure would be an interesting life in the circus, I'm certain it isn't dull. So God Bless you guy from Rio de Janeiro who can bend your body like a pretzel! The Roblyer family really enjoyed your performance tonight!