Circuses

When I was growing up I went to the Circus if my father had a poster in his business window as they gave us passes for the end seats. I took a pint of water with me in a jar. Then I met and married a man that loved circuses. I mean really loved them. He thought the world existed just for a circus. I have gone to circuses in tents while it was raining very hard and the lions were growling, I have gone to them in a round building built especially for them--Russia. I have attended the international one in Monte Carlo where beside the circus I got to see Cary Grant--he was a judge. I have been in Baraboo where Ringling started and in Florida where they ended up. I have gone to the International circus in Milwaulkee and their big parade. I think of our daughter Susan's comment. "I am sixteen and have been to 16 circuses and I'm not going anymore." Of course she did. I feel the same way. I see they are coming to town and I would like to miss it again. Ray liked to ride the elephants from the train to the place they stay at Kemper. He got to be a clown in one of the circuses. I think Stacy and Hayden got to ride in the kid thing around the arena. I used to like it when our seats were with the families and we got to see the kids enjoy their parents acts. My favorite of all the acts was the pigs sliding down the slippery slide. I was not with Ray the time the horse jumped into the tank and it broke and the water went all over the floor among the electrical circuits. I liked the one with a bear that in the middle of the act that picked up the chair he was to sit on and ran across the arena. I know the Lafferty children used to use the acts from the Police Circus in their talent show at Westwood View. But now I feel like Susan. "I am 86 and I have to been to at least 86 circuses and I don't want to go to anymore."