Circus Act

I’m sure you were thinking with a title like this that I would go into a rant about work. But no! I’m actually going to talk about the circus. Talking about work is more ridiculous than the circus.

I love Cirque du Soleil. I’ve seen a number of their shows and find them mesmerizing! I’m astounded by the contortionists being able to move their bodies in various poses without the sound of snapping bones. It’s incredibly intriguing. I always find these acts to be the most painful and yet I can’t help but stare at them. It’s the morbid fascination of the human body.

There are those acts that seem to exist solely to make me nervous:
The High Wire People
The Balancing on a Stack of Chairs Guy, etc.
I watch them and bite my nails with the hope that they will not fall.

Then there are the jugglers. I am utterly awestruck by them at times. How they can train their hands to follow their eyes and never let anything fall? I can barely walk on my two feet without crashing into something and getting a bruise.

But the people I love the most are the acrobats. The people who fly through the air with sticks attached to their feet or from seesaws. The freedom they must sense that I can never feel. I used to be a gymnast and I only got so far. But the feeling of having the wind flow through your hands and having your body twist and turn in mid-air must be exhilarating. I guess part of the beauty of the circus is wishing you could do what they do. At least it seems that way for me.

And which act does my husband love the best? The clowns! Why? Because they make him laugh. His laughter at watching them is very contagious. I think he likes them best because he’s a clown as well. He enjoys making people laugh.

So while he invigorated by the laughter he produces in others, I think of the freedom of the flight of those acrobats.