Reality is much more beautiful.

July 13, Dalton.

There was a luncheon with the American Legion sponsors today, as there is every year here, and Carolyn was asked to make a speech.
She recalled her years working in the circus, and capped the speech reminiscing about high school. "My guidance counselor asked me what I wanted to do after school and I told her I wanted to be in the circus. She said, Now, Carolyn, there is a difference between reality and fantasy, and she was right: reality is so much more beautiful than I could have imagined."
Forget fantasy: long days and endless work, an uncertain future and lots of mud on the sole of your shoes, the circus is all that but that's not why you fall in love with it.
It's the beautiful reality of it.
It's much more beautiful. And as with the people you love, the beauty is in your eyes. For me it's the beauty of the ebb and flow, the light on the tent, the sweat on a performer's brow, the places seen from my window, the roundness of the ring.
It's much more beautiful for being lived.