Circus Day

I have been to the circus exactly three times. Once when I was four, once when I was twenty six and once we took our kids. Hence, I remember all the visits with clarity.
When I was four my dad took me to the circus. I remember having cotton candy for the first time. It was pink and as big as my head. I loved it and I still do. What's not to like about spun sugar on a cone?? I also remember being sick to my stomach after I ate the whole thing. I remember my mother asking my dad why he let me eat so much. Oh, the circus part?? Don't remember a thing.
If I had I would never had said I wanted to go to the circus for my birthday. My then boyfriend got us tickets to see the circus as a gift. I really wanted to go as I was sure I had missed something for all those years. Oh, I missed something all right. The creepy clowns.
I have to admit I am totally scared of clowns. Even Bozo and Clarabelle. Even Emmett Kelly...Jr. too!
I don't know why people find clowns funny anyway. They are kind of creepy to look at and they do stupid stuff. I know I laughed at some of the stupid stuff. I don't remember anything else about that circus either--just the clowns.
I took my kids to the circus because that's what families do. I knew I could suck it up for my kids and I did. Then I found out that my little girl also hated and feared clowns. It made me a little braver but only while she was little. As she grew up we were able to share our fear and that made us each feel a little less weird.
It turns out that a lot of people are afraid of clowns....so much so that Steven King wrote a scary book and the star evil guy was a clown. Some people will laugh if you admit that you are scared of clowns but others will have complete empathy and admit they are scared to death of them too.
The custodian at my school where I taught was a clown. To tell the truth, I was even a little scared of him--in or out of costume. He was a really nice guy but I just couldn't help it. It was the clown thing, of course and I just couldn't shake it.
It is healthy to have some fear. It keeps us from doing really stupid stuff like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute or eating the moldy food in the fridge. A good healthy fear of clowns never hurt anyone............................yet.