Single White Nerd:  Nice Day for a Clown Wedding Nov22

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Single White Nerd: Nice Day for a Clown Wedding

I was about two-thirds of the way through a groundbreaking expose on the hidden dangers of f deep frying a turkey when something happened that changed the course of my life. Or at least this post. Namely: A coupla clowns got married.

It’s true. Last night, teetering way high up on stilts, two clowns—well, really, one clown and one dancer—tied the knot. It wasn’t just them. Lots of people were on stilts. The wedding parties, the officiant, various onlookers. Oh and jugglers. There were jugglers tossing pins and rings back and forth as the bride and groom exchanged vows. I wasn’t juggling or stilting. Just watching from a spot nearby, guzzling wine while trying to keep my foam clown nose dry.

A Wedding. On Stilts!

Hmm, I just read that paragraph and it sounds like something a five year old would make up. You’re probably thinking that this is some sort of nerdy highfalutin literary gambit that I’ll now parlay into a self-pity-laced narrative about being traumatized by the circus. Or you’re worried that I’ve been hitting the holiday flask a bit earlier this year. Thanks for your concern, but I assure you that this absolutely and completely totally happened. And it was awesome.

Pledging your love to someone for ever and ever is, I imagine, an exceptionally daunting task. But to do it on stilts with people flinging pins to and fro five feet from you . . . awesome. To have the courage to stand eight feet above the rest of the world wearing formal wear, let your inner 5-year-old loose to play and turn your wedding into a bit of circus magic . . . awesome. To invite others into your private world and to offer them a part, however small, in it . . . yep, awesome.

So as I stood there watching this circus wedding go down and accidentally dipping my clown nose into my wine, I found myself getting all swept up in the proceedings and suffused with a wee bit of gratitude. Gratitude for having folks in my life with such a strong sense of play and imagination and love. It was inspiring. Because, really, those three things can keep you going if everything else goes swirling down the crapper.

With that—Happy Thanksgiving, Nerds. May your Turkeys (or Turkey=like substance) be well fried and your clown noses dry and bulbous!

See Michael Kass tell tales of pre-adolescent angst on December 6th at Spark off Rose and 10th at Wordplay. Info at www.sparkoffrose.com and www.wordplayshow.com.