Time for the Circus

Spring break is upon us. Anna has two more days, and then she's off for over a week.

So we'll be sleeping in, packing our bags to go on a trip and spending hours upon hours enjoying the company of each other, right?

Not really.

At dinner last night, Joe and Anna were discussing all the fun things they were going to do together during the week she has off of school.

Now, by fun things, I mean, work related activities, such as driving the four-wheeler, tending to the calves, and working on her baseball fundamentals. Those are fun, especially to those non-licensed drivers, however, no trips to someplace sunny and warm (thankfully it's 75 degrees here, so who's complaining?), no sleeping in, as chores still must be completed. The time spent together is obvious, which is the whole point, right?

Anyway, Anna has one request for Spring Break, and that involves a circus ticket she received as some sort of incentive award at school. Bounding up the deck steps, she presented the ticket with great pride to me, announcing that she has never been to a circus, we needed to take her there, and, by the way, it was free.

She knows how to guilt her mother, and already speaks her father's financial language.

However, do we have time for the circus? In a season that is busy and full and has snafus like last night when Joe had to run a bull to the vet at 7:30 for a bloat case (Thankfully, he is alright after basically a big dose of cattle-type Pepto Bismal and a rubber tubing thing...not in that order.). Do we have time to take our kids to a noisy, crazy, kind of scary (anyone else weirded out by clowns?) event such as the circus?

Isn't our life already a circus?

The answer to all of these hypotheticals is yes....as well as no.

Yes, we do have time to take the kids to the circus, but not without great planning around naps and meals and chores and feedings and calves. Yes, we do have time to expose them to weird contortionists and crazy clowns, but no we don't probably need to go, desperately, but isn't a circus event something every kid needs to experience.

While I know that all of our events here on the farm are worthwhile and meaningful and life lesson-filled and important for our livelihood, there are times that we have to step back and breathe, plan and program, and just go.

Depart from our circus to go see an actual circus.

So, will Anna get her wish of seeing the circus, I'm not sure. My hope is, however, that no matter how busy we are, whatever season we're in, we'll try to step away once in a while and enjoy something that isn't agriculturally related.

However, maybe something a little less crazy as a circus should be in order...