The Circus is in town, and a college friend of mine works for the entertainment company who runs it. So he got us tickets to go to yesterday’s opening performance of “The Greatest Show on Earth.”
We wanted to surprise the kids, so we didn’t tell them we were going to go. I was more excited than they were.
We left early for two reasons: So we could find the place (the arena is in a part of town we’ve never been to) and so we could see the pre-show. Of course, the typical happened: we got lost. But the good news is that we found the Arena and arrived an hour before the show. That is right when the pre-show is supposed to start.
When we went to the ticket booth to pick up our tickets, they sent us to another ticket booth where the “cortesias,” or “passes” were supposed to be. We hurriedly walked around to the front of the arena to the new ticket booth and asked if they had our tickets. They looked and looked and couldn’t find them. So they sent us back to the other booth.
Returning to the booth, I asked again, explaining that they were from the entertainment company in the USA. They told me that this was with “production” and that we should go by the entrance and wait to see if someone came up with the tickets. So we waited. And we waited. Our three kids did great and waited more.
We saw someone come to the entrance that looked like he worked with the circus, and we asked if he knew anything. He told us to go downstairs and ask at the “registration” entrance. So we did.
Two people came in, and we explained the situation to them. By now it was 10 minutes until showtime. They said they would help, went into the restricted area, and never came out again. I left our friend there with my ID to see if they would ever come out, and I went back up to the entrance to check on Janell and the kids. She had bought them a program, and now they were really ready to go into the circus (with the clown glasses in the photo above).
We all went back downstairs. About 10 minutes later, there was someone else going in, so we pleaded our case to her. She actually took our cell phone number and wrote down our names and my friend in the USA’s name. She seemed like she was going to help us, and apparently she did.
About 10 minutes later another lady came out and asked if she could help us. By then the show was almost halfway over. She apologized and offered to get us tickets to another showing. She was very kind to us and is working on getting us tickets to next week’s show. Hopefully it will get worked out. I have exchanged several emails with them, and it is just a question of working out the day and the time.
So what did we do? We took the kids to eat at one of their favorite restaurants in Mexico: Chili’s.
Here are some things I was reminded of during our trip to the Circus:
- Kids are sometimes content with little things, although we think we have to give them great things.
- If you say you’re going to help, it is important to follow through and execute.
- When you do follow through and execute, it can make a huge difference for someone.
There are others, but those are some important lessons I learned. Hopefully next week we’ll go to the Circus, and I’ll be able to share with you some great stories and family memories.
This story reminded me a little of “When Free isn’t Free.” Remember that one?
