The Circus

As a child, every year the famous Barnum and Bailey Circus would come to town, and my family would gather up into our van to see the show . This became a family tradition, and a highlight for me. Every time we heard the circus was in town, rain or shine, the McFadden tribe would bear the weather and set off for the Bayfront Center.

On a personal level, the circus was almost comparable to Christmas. Being so young, I had never experienced such controlled chaos under one tent. The closest thing to a tiger that I had ever seen was a cat in my neighborhood that suffered from elephantitus. It was an all out onslaught of exotic animals, crazy painted people running around, and performers keeping me in amazement as they flew through the sky. The circus was the key to the door that opened my imagination.

As the years have past, the great enjoyment that I once found in the circus has gradually slipped away. The astonishment of the tricks performed, the sight of wild animals, and the amusement of all the histerical clowns has slowly dimmed to a short applause and a glance at my watch. This I feared was the part of life that no one seems to look forward to, I was growing up. Instead of taking in the sights, smells, and scenery; I was more focused on how much all these things would cost me by the end of the night. Unfortunately, I was not able to face the fact of getting older and losing the one thing that set me apart from everyone else, my imagination. By the grace of God, another key had been laid before me to open that glorious door again.

Recently, I moved in with a few friends into a three bedroom house. Everything was swell as we all made our adjustments and found our comfort zones. Until, the day a new circus rolled into our home. Unannounced, one of my roommates made a small purchase of two amazing dogs. When first introduced to the dogs, it reminded me of the way the tamer had fought off the lions in the cage of death. The two dogs were a trip and always getting into trouble. I realized that I had not been formally introduced even after weeks had gone by. My roommate finally gave a proper introduction to our new four legged roommates. "Their names",he said,"are Barnum and Bailey." It is so good to feel young again.

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Jacob, I loved the narrative. I changed a few things and added some commas here and there, but overall I thought it was great. You do a great job at going into descriptions and creating visuals, but I would suggest using a metaphor or simile to create that at a greater depth. I also added the elephantitus just for humor, I don't think that I would necessarily keep it.

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