Circus Dreams

When I was in elementary school, my best friend C and I watched Toby Tyler on the Wonderful World of Disney. We played circus for weeks afterward – riding our bikes and pretending they were horses, trying to duplicate the trick riding we’d seen in the movie. It was a lot of fun.

Fifteen years later, I was working for the St. Louis Public Schools. One day, I saw an ad for a circus coming to town. A circus! My childhood memories came flooding back, and I knew I had to go and fulfill my childhood dream of going to the circus. My brother L came with me – he’d bought me the tickets as a birthday present, and we went to the show on my birthday. It was so much better than I’d imagined!

We’d been told as we entered that the tent was damaged – the sidewalls were in place, but the top had been torn in a bad storm, so all we saw above us was sky. The show was wonderful! And then the next act was the Flying Wallendas! I’d seen the movie about them and their famous pyramid. The wire seemed so close – and the stars twinkling above them made it magical.

It was my best birthday ever!

A few weeks later, there was an article in the paper about the tiny circus, saying that they were going to make St. Louis their home, and they wanted to start an outreach program with the local schools. The department I worked for coordinated community volunteers in the classroom, so I showed the article to my supervisor. She gave me the go ahead to contact them.

I looked up the number and called them. They were happy to meet and discuss creating a circus arts program in the schools. Soon, they were having classes regularly at Gallaudet School for the Deaf.

The following year, they put on a new show, and were looking for volunteer ushers. A free ticket just for helping to seat people? I signed up immediately! I volunteered every weekend. I’d already met a few people from the school program, but helping each weekend, year after year, I met more circus people and got to know them. One year I was asked to work in the box office, and another year, I helped out with concessions.

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For the past two weekends, I’ve driven up to Sacramento to see the Zoppe Circus, owned by some of my friends from that first tiny circus. Their family circus started in Europe in 1842 and is my absolute favorite circus. They have a completely new show this year and it’s awesome.

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Driving home last weekend, after eating lasagna with my friend and their family, I thought about Toby Tyler and riding bikes with my childhood best friend C. I never would have imagined that one day I would actually work at a circus, or have the opportunity to try walking the tight wire, or ride an elephant, or swing on the trapeze. Dreams do come true!

I just might drive to San Francisco next month to see my friend’s circus again…