Circus Time

I've been working in the circus for a number of years now, but never has my sense of time been so incredibly skewed as it is on this tour. After the first two weeks of shows (or was it only one?) it felt like we'd been running the show for months. Name a town we've already performed in and it feels as distant in my memory as towns I performed in years ago, though it may very well have only been last week. Couples that have formed over the course of the tour feel like they've been together for years, even though it's been only a couple of months at most.

It's very strange, sometimes frustrating, and always very surprising. It's hard not to get lost in the bubble, and harder still to maintain contact with those who aren't in it with you. While in the bubble what feels like a month may only be a week, but that friend from the real world who wrote to you last week, the one you've been meaning to write back to? That really was last month, and they're wondering what the hell happened to you.

It's not so bad for me. I'm used to being on tour and maintaining friendships from a distance. But my worker friends on the tour, the ones who decided to run away with the circus for a season, are having a much harder time of it. And I know that more than one of them is worried about losing their friends by the time this is over.

It's a funny thing, this circus time. A funny thing indeed...