Clowning Around

I’m tired today, but it’s a good tired, the kind that comes from entirely throwing yourself into something and using up every bit of energy you have. Last night, the community chorus that both Dave and I sing in, had our spring concert. It was a lot of fun, but there was also a lot of work involved – practice every week, listening to and learning the music at home, carefully planning the extras to make this a very special concert, and providing desserts to go with our coffee house theme.

For our first song, we all dressed up as clowns, and sang a medley of “Be a Clown,” “When You’re Smiling,” and “Make ‘Em Laugh.” We wore funny hats, noses, and costume add-ons, and had an absolute blast singing that. It reminds me of my favorite job of all time. I had just finished my first year of college, and was looking for a job for the summer. My family was living in Canada at the time. I believe that I was looking at as many options as possible, and went the local Manpower to see what they had. They sent me on an interview, and I got the job! It was a program that went to local daycare centers, kindergartens, and early elementary school classes to educate the children on safety symbols: poison, flammable, explosive, and corrosive. We did this in two ways: a puppet show, and me being Pockets, the Clown, and handing out coloring books and stickers to all the kids. I LOVED being Pockets! We would often have two or three gigs a day and I would stay in costume the entire time. I had a government credit card and got to drive a government car! (There is nothing more fun than pulling into a service station in my government car and my clown costume and makeup!)

The best part of playing a clown is that the normal inhibitions and fears that make up my life go right out the window. When you are a clown, you can do anything, and the more outrageous, the better! And while I am much more likely than some people to do crazy things like skip in the mall or get up on stage, I still have many reservations about my body and my looks. It doesn’t matter what a clown looks like – there are no clown pageants or standards of beauty. No one gets upset if a clown has a poochy stomach or love handles.

Even though playing a clown is fun, it is not something I care to do 24/7. I like being a real person with real relationships and real conversations. I like to “clown around” with friends and family, but I also like to have depth in those connections. And I know that life is not always full of laughs – sometimes there are tears.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, NIV)