As a kid, I couldn't stand clowns. And as an adult, I can't stand clowns.
There's just something unnatural about a person that has to PAINT a smile on their face in order to do comedy.
I don't get it. I just don't get it. (Though I think some of this hostility has to do with the fact that mom and dad had Ajax the Clown do my 6th bday party--and it scared the crap out of me. In my memory, the man was about 60 with the scariest teeth ever. Sorry, mom and dad--you'll probably tell me he was a family member you paid to do the gig. LOL!)
At any rate, the funny thing to me is that as much as I hate clowns, I love the circus and I love a carnival. Really. Some of my best childhood memories are from the yearly "Camelia Festival and Carnival" at home in LA. (Probably because I was the princess of the festival at age 6. True. I have a photo on my fridge to prove it. I use the photo to remind the kids that they're from royalty. Just kidding. Not about the photo on the fridge, about the reason for it being there.)
But, I digress.
This past week, our neighbors had their grandkids over--and the grandkids brought this amazing inflatable waterslide with them. It was huge--like 10 feet tall and 20 feet wide. The kids were having so much fun, I immediately decided I had to have one.
Who doesn't like a waterslide? Their OWN waterslide?
So, after learning that the slide was $500.00, I decided you SHOULD like that waterslide. And, maybe I wasn't going to own my own! Boo hoo me.
But then I remembered, I live in Daybreak! We are all about community and pooling our resources.
So, a few moms and I decided it would be fun to own one together and share it during the summer.
How will it work out, you ask?
I don't have all of the details. Do I think there will be some bumps in the metaphorical road? Yes. Do I think we may have a high waterbill? Yes. Do I think it may pop? Yes. (But if we can put a man on the moon, we can repair a waterslide.) Do I think someone may get an owie? Yes. (But at least they will have fun getting it.)
So, I'm pretty excited. As of this morning, I've got pledges for $480.00 from moms/friends in the hood. The slide is $500.00 plus tax, so I'm hoping to be able to purchase it Friday. Stay tuned for photos.
In the meantime, as I was telling a neighbor about it last night, I realized, "you know, I could collect money from 100 neighbors and actually set up my own summer carnival at the greenspace." Yeah, that's what I could do. I could buy a whole truck load of inflatables, get a cotton candy machine, popcorn, tickets, rope off the area . . . it would be a whole summer of carnival fun--right in our own backyard.
I could even paint a smile on my face!
Just kidding.
