**Disclaimer **
I am 100% for the ethical treatment of animals and 100% against any circus.
That being said, I will go on.
When my husband said he wanted to take the baby to the circus, I said no way, absolutely not because I do not feel it is right to make animals do tricks they were not naturally intended to do. He then said to not push my hippie bs values on her. I don't agree but when I see how excited she got about seeing Dumbo and talked about which toy animal she wants to take with her, what choice did I have??
We get to the pre-party on the circus floor before the show starts. There was face painting, a bounce house, pony rides,... Camel rides.... Elephant rides. I could not believe there were elephant rides. Now, I love elephants. They are my absolute favorite animals and if I ever live in Africa, I totally want some of my own ;) I immediately start to panic in my head because my husband spares no expense and I knew there was a definite camel and elephant ride in her very near future. She had no desire to ride the camel but without hesitation, wants to ride the elephant. I begin to think of all the Caught on Camera episodes we've seen and I imagine this creature bucking her off and going cray. Since my husband knows I love them he asks if I want to ride along with her. I decline and say I want to snap the pics instead aka if anything goes wrong, he will not panic and be able to protect her because he has the reflexes of a cat. He's a Leo. I'll be honest, I secretly wanted her to be afraid and not go on, but naturally, she has no fear and squeals with excitement. She's fearless.
So as we wait in line, we are no joke inches from them. I couldn't believe I was that close to an elephant. I was in shock. I thought of how majestic these animals are. I saw the detail of their long eyelashes, fuzzy trunks and toes. I thought about how different elephants are than all the other animals in the kingdom. They are one of the few species to mostly live amongst their families for their entire lives and have the cognitive ability to experience pure emotion; joy, rage, sadness, empathy. I then thought about how sad Dumbo was to be away from his mother and wondered if this guy was lonely or sad or missed his mama. I looked at his eyes and start to cry. Tears were streaming down my face as I was jolted out of my thoughts when my husband asked why I'm crying and if I could please stop because it might alarm the baby if she saw me. I remembered this is for her and not about me. As I was pulling myself togther he asked if I brought my PETA pamphlets and if I plan to throw red paint at him. It made me laugh and I felt silly for making it so serious. Hey, I can't help it sometimes.
Once it was her turn, she jumps on like a pro. Just as they start to go, the conductor announced it is almost show time and for everyone to get off the floor. As their ride continued, the trainer had the elephant do a normal round around the ring, plus a poop, all while they are still on. Lights were dimming and it's just the elephant with them on his back in the middle of the ring. It looked like they were apart of the show. My husband was laughing and Pea just sat there looking around like the princess she is, as if it was totally normal and like she meant for it to happen that way. It was magical.
I realized I almost got in the way of a happy moment Pres will remember for her lifetime. In life, there are compromises we sometimes have to make. I don't ever want to be the parent that pushes my own beliefs on my kid or restrict her from living life. We are here to guide her in the best possible way while letting her be who she want to be. I don't want her to miss out on anything. I still have the same view I had going into it, but the fact that she got to have such a cool experience, is worth way more.
