Sunrise, Sunset (Or, Why You Need to Go to the Circus, Now!)

(This is a post I originally wrote for FamilyFuninPA.com. You can find the original HERE.)

While doing a little spring cleaning over the weekend, I came across a treasure.  A treasure made of plastic, shoved to the back of a kitchen shelf, doing nothing more than collecting dust. But, dust collector or not, it is a treasure I cannot bear to part with.  At one time it held an extremely over-priced, flavorless, red, white & blue sno-cone.  But now, that orange plastic mug in the shape of Bello the Clown’s head brings back memories that make it well worth the outrageous $10 price tag.

What makes that $10 so crazy is the fact that I paid that much at a circus TEN YEARS AGO.  Not crazy because of the rate of inflation, though; no, the crazy part is the insane speed at which those ten years have flown by since that trip to the Circus.  I remember so clearly that little 5-year-old boy sitting beside me, wide-eyed and amazed by the snake man with the python wrapped around his body… The 5-year-old boy who put his hands over his ears when the daredevil motorcyclists roared on the tight rope above us… The 5-year-old boy who thought the elephants were stinky and the tigers were cool… The 5-year-old boy who BEGGED me for the $10 Bello sno-cone until I reluctantly acquiesced.

Suddenly, that same little boy is signing up for Drivers’ Ed and--gulp--shaving!  It is getting harder & harder to find family activities that he finds “acceptable.”  Gone are the days when we, Mom & Dad, were the people in the world he most wanted to spend time with… Gone are the days of Sesame Street Live, Easter Egg Hunts, petting zoos, and Breakfasts with Santa…

I am so lucky, though, because I get to re-live the memories from those kinds of events every single day, working for familyfuninpa.com.  I love knowing that we are helping parents find ways to create memories with their kids like my fond memories from that circus 10 years ago.  And right now, I would like to encourage those of you with younger children to GO to that circus!  Just GO! No, it won’t be perfect—kids will whine, kids will have to go to the bathroom at inappropriate times, kids will want to buy all of the shiny circus trinkets on display in the lobby… But I promise you that those imperfect moments are not what matter.  No, I promise you that, just like that overpriced commemorative sno-cone mug, some day the memory of that time spent together will be more precious than the cost of admission for a family of four, times a million.