I may not have mentioned before but my father’s family came from the circus and as a child I had the chance to experience that life and still retain a lot of memories of that time.
My dad’s circus stoped in my mom’s village for a few weeks and my mom went to see the spectacle. She told me that there was a very attractive clown ( I really don’t know how she could see him under all that makeup, but ok) and that at the end of the show he winked at her as he disappeared behind the curtains. She described that moment for her as love at first sight. As result when the circus left town she ran away with my dad and the circus and as soon after I came into the picture.
My parents were super young and as you can imagine it was tough to star your life together living in a circus with a new kid.
But I do remember that tine as a small child and I’m going to share those memories with you here.
One time we travelled on a big boat down the Amazon river, it was a large boat loaded with trucks and caravans. The afternoons where hot and we used to chill on the hammock slung under the trucks. As we floated down the Amazon we would see fresh water dolphins and wild animals on the river banks as we floated past.I remember one time we went to the village of native tribe and traded things we had for mangos.
The boat was made of steal, the temperature was incredibly hot and the humidity crazy. My brother and I begged to swim in the river.My parents gave in and put my brother, who was very little at the time, in a small bucket. For me it was a rope around my waste and dangled over the side of the boat into the cool water. And there i was being pulled through the water by this huge boat! It was really refreshing but my gosh…. looking back it was dangerous, not only of drowning but also from the multitude of wild and dangerous animals in the water of the Amazon. Thinking about the experience today I don’t think I would repeat it, but I’m happy I have it as an unforgettable childhood memory.
Another memory of the circus was sleeping in a caravan and playing with my “pipi doll”. A doll I won from my grandmother, a wonderfully wise woman, in a bet.
There was a kid called neguinho who I played with all the time but who controlled me and if I did not do as he said he would hit me. Every day would end with me going back to my grandmother crying, telling her that this kid was hitting me. So my wise grandmother made a deal with me, that if the next day I hit him back she would give me a super cool doll. So that’s what I did and she gave me the doll.
It’s very interesting to relive these memories and analyse them from a the present day perspective. I guess many of us go through experiences like this in life. For me this was my first time I stood up for myself and said no to a bully.
Everyone in the circus had a job. My dad was a clown and had a balancing act. He had an apparatus called pendulum. He used his own weight to make it move from one side to another gaining a lot of speed sometimes running around the outside. It was incredible to watch.My mom looked after me and my brother but also danced Can-Can. I also vividly remember my dad training me to be a contortionist. I think my time in the circus was a wonderful experience and I believe it resulted in my love to be constantly on the move. This is my history, I’m proud of it and I’m happy to shave this opportunity to share it with you. In remembering it and writing it I am gaining different perspectives of my own life and a deeper understanding of myself.
