"Ladies and gentleman! Boys and Girls! Children of all ages!".... "May all your days be circus days!" There is something about those phrases along with the smell of the circus (the animals, the cotton candy, the popcorn, etc.) that takes me back to being five years old - where anything and everything was possible and the circus was AMAZING!
Yesterday I told my oldest nephew on a "date" to the circus and I'm not sure who enjoyed it more - him or me. I picked him up early and we went to the pre-circus fair where he asked if he could ride a camel. I told him he could ride a camel which he really enjoyed; there was no one waiting after him so he got an extra lap even. After he rode the camel, I asked him if he wanted to ride an elephant because the line at that moment was short and it would be his only opportunity (my parents took him to the circus a couple of years ago; he didn't want to ride the elephant initially but wanted to after the show and it was impossible due to the length of the line). At first he said he didn't want to ride an elephant because they were too big but when I offered to ride the elephant with him, he decided that it would be okay. I immensely enjoyed riding the elephant and I think he enjoyed it even though he was scared.
After our ride on the elephant, we decided it might be a good time to at least locate our seats. I had selected the seats that I wanted (I wanted to sit in front of center ring and high enough that we could see everything) but I didn't realize what good seats we had - I had purchased club seats which were just in front of box seats; we had two section attendants and a waitress so we could order off a specialty menu if we wanted to. We were informed that they didn't think that the circus food vendors would come up as high as we were so, since we still had plenty of time before the show started, we went to find cotton candy and the first of a few souvenirs (he ended up with a stuffed white tiger and a light stick and I ended up with a light stick and he bought me a stuffed elephant so I "could remember our elephant ride together"). We got back to our seats where the waitress appeared and asked if we wanted to order anything. After debating things, we ended up ordering a jumbo popcorn, soda, and a box of chicken tenders and french fries. Our food arrived just as the show was getting ready to start.
When the lights went down, the spotlight came on, and the ringmaster said those iconic words - "Ladies and gentleman! Boys and Girls! Children of all ages!", I got chills/choked up. This was exactly what I needed! Several of the acts were "one and only" acts - performing camels, amazing aerial acts, a high-wire act where the woman not only sang but she is the only woman who attempts to carry a man on her shoulders and walks the high-wire. At the end of the circus, when the ringmaster announced, "and until we meet again, MAY ALL YOUR DAYS BE CIRCUS DAYS!" I have to admit that I got chills/choked up again.
This past week was filled with some good things and some not good things so I'm glad I took the time to go to the circus. I took some time away from work this week in order to get my hair cut and colored - I do like how it looks however, it took way longer than anticipated as the stylist had to add bleach to my hair three different times and the color twice in order to make things happen. The next day, I was helping a child who was having a screaming fit at drop off and when I was accepting a child from another parent, she saw it as her opportunity to attempt to escape - I went to move to catch her, when I stepped on a small block and fell onto my knee straight on the tile floor while turning my body in order to not squish the child I was holding. I'm not one who likes to go to the doctor but I figured since my fall happened at work and it was my knee I should probably get it checked out. I had to wait for my assistant director to arrive (which was just shy of 4 hours after I fell) and I went to a walk-in orthopedic clinic. Four sets of x-rays and an exam later told me that I had a sprained knee and I'm to keep it wrapped for the next week; if it's not better at the end of that time, I get to go back for more tests. Yippee! Thankfully the swelling on it has gone down but it is still tender at times so I'm still trying to take it as easy as I can. The plus side is I was told I should wear tennis shoes to work for the next week as well as avoid stairs if/when possible (so I get to ask people to go upstairs to get documents off the printer for me).
Having the opportunity to go to the circus this past week has put some thoughts in my head as to not having the circus that is my life under control and that is something that I have written about a handful of times before. In January of 2015 I wrote, Another area that's been a work in progress is the circus that is my life. I am still working on getting the generators up and running 100%, the popcorn popped, the cotton candy spun and make sure everyone is where they're supposed to be. Maybe part of the problem is my circus is too large - acts stretched between too many tents, the acrobats have to be lion tamers too, the clowns also walk the tightrope, and the animals all have to learn how to juggle. I need to learn how to downsize the circus and allow the performers to do the stunts they are comfortable with -- this will make my job as ringmaster immensely easier. The ringmaster of a circus doesn't have to be personally involved in every act or take the place of their performers. I feel as if I have had to be ready at any given moment to jump into the performance and announce and keep everyone happy and ready to go on at any time. It's exhausting... I guess I just need to get better at managing the circus instead of micromanaging as I unfortunately have a tendency to gravitate towards.
In April 2016 I wrote, I saw a sign this past week that said, "Don't mind the sawdust; this circus is under renovations." After seeing the sign, it struck me that my own circus needs some renovations, too. I know I've written about it before but I need to do something - the clowns/acrobats/animals/trapeze-ists/trainers/everyone else are tired and they need some semblance of a change of pace. Going non-stop at at a breakneck pace will take a toll on the best of us and this particular ringmaster (me) is just plain tired...
Now that I realize that "history is repeating itself" and I have fallen back into old habits due to becoming a ringmaster of a new circus (my new job), I need to take inventory of things I have and how I am going to turn these new circuses which are my new job and my new life around. I haven't figured that out yet but it's a place to start. On that note, this ringmaster has a few things to accomplish (help with dishes and laundry being two of those things), I am going to put this away for the evening. May all your days be circus days!
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