Ladies & Gentlemen, Children of All Ages...

Welcome to "The Greatest Show on Earth." And it's hard for me to believe that these folks have been in business for over a century and a half -- and P.T. Barnum's career as a showman stretches back even farther than that. But this is how I spent yesterday afternoon, and frankly it was even more fun than I expected it to be. It's been at least 40 years since I'd last been as a child, I especially enjoyed the trained wiener dog (ok, dachshund) act -- although the tigers and the elephants were both impressive as well. I know the animal acts are still very controversial, but they are so much a part of the circus tradition I can't really imagine what it would be like without them. And I think in her youth, Parker would have very much liked to have been a circus dog. But instead she had to settle for a little Agility training, chasing a tennis ball, and jumping on the furniture....

The clowning in this circus was very refreshing as well -- none of that tired old Bozo-like white face with a big red nose. Instead, two Russian clowns, Stanislav Knyhozkov ("Stas") and Vasily Trifonov ("Vas") did most of the physical clowning around; while Justin Case (who describes himself as an "Eccentric Extraordinaire) did some amazingly amusing bicycle tricks, and provided a lot of the narrative "glue" which holds the show together, and gave continuity to the fine assortment of acrobats, aerialists,, jugglers and other performers who comprise the rest of the show.

But I didn't come here this morning to review the circus.

When my former wife was a little girl growing up in Chicago, her family had a rule: only one circus per year. And her brother always wanted to hold out for the "big" circus -- three rings, dozens of acts, hundreds of performers, plus a side show and all the rest. But Margie's rule was "always take the First Circus." And her logic was impeccable. Not only do you get to go the the First Circus right away, by the time the second circus (or the third or fourth) rolls into town, your parents' attitude might have softened a bit, especially if they had a good time the first time. And if the First Circus turned out to be a disappointment... well, you could always argue for a "do over," and so on and so on.

But the real point of the First Circus is that it is almost always simpler (and preferable) to navigate the possibilities of the here and now, rather than speculating about the probabilities of what yet may or may not be. The "First Circus" may very well turn out to be the last circus -- so don't be shy about seizing the moment and making the most of it. Because some day the day does come when there won't always be another circus. And that day may well be sooner than we think.