Circus Act

I sometimes think my life is a three-ring circus with all that is going on in the Family Ring, the Work Ring and the Other (catch-all) Ring. Things are always hopping so the crowd stays pretty interested. I suppose if they get bored, they can grab some popcorn or cotton candy and come back. Maybe things will change (imagine that) and be exciting again.

There's this misplaced belief that most kids, at some point in their childhood, want to run away to join the circus. Not me. Not my thing at all.

I'm not comfortable hanging out with wild animals that could either eat you (lions) or smush you (elephants) -- though trying to get others to do what you want sometimes is like coaxing a tiger to jump through a ring of fire, isn't it?

It would be fun to be a clown and make people laugh. I've done some clowning before, but those circus clowns are often used as decoys, too, to distract aforementioned animals. Yikes!

How about the trapeze or the tightrope? No way, says Miss Scared of Heights. Though I'd relate life right now to walking on a tightrope. Things are a tense balancing act in some of those Rings. How can I get across?

I need to keep my eyes on the goal ahead and not be distracted by the cheering or jeering crowd in the Family Ring. Maybe someday the teen section there will understand the line Dad and Stepmom Acrobat are walking.

I'm following some other acrobats across the Work Ring. The rope is not so steady here and some of my friends are falling off. I can't look down or vertigo will claim me and I'll fall, too. I hope the safety net catches them. I hope they bounce back and find new jobs.

I am going slowly over the Other Ring. There are so many little weights on each end of my balancing pole. I need to slowly and carefully shed a few while inching forward.

How can I walk the tightrope? The key for me: Don't look down and keep moving at a steady pace. When I look ahead, I see others have made the same trek and survived. I can do it, too. I will do it.

(And I'll be grateful for today they didn't ask me to swallow a sword or juggle flaming sticks.)