As most of you may or may not know ... my beloved mother died in a horrible car accident on US42 one day before my 16th birthday .... a few days after that ... I (and my horse) was shipped off to a boarding school in Virginia. I went to an equestrian school where the curriculum included riding your horse daily. In spite of the circumstances .... not too shabby, huh?
Prior to heading off to boarding school ... I have no problem admitting to the fact that my image and reputation was probably a little less than stellar. Upon arriving at the boarding school ... I did absolutely nothing to change my errant ways and further tarnished an already much maligned reputation.
But ... this isn't a story about what a rotten, out of control teenager I was .... this is an uplifting ode to all those kids in confusing predicaments that wish they could just chuck it all and start life anew.
Here goes:
One day at boarding school I noticed everyone at the Social Board looking at a flyer and sign up sheet. I walked up to see what all the hubbub was about .... it appeared that the circus was in town and those who wanted to go only needed to place their John Hancock on the board. I couldn't wait to get off campus so I immediately signed up for the field trip!
I waited in anticipation all week. I worked diligently doing my schoolwork and staying out of trouble ... which was a monumental task for me .... so that I wouldn't be banned from off campus privileges.
The night finally came and about 2 dozen uniformed, proper looking school girls all piled in a van and began our trek to the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. We got there a little early and in Barnum & Bailey tradition ... they allowed students and small children to walk down to the 3 ring circus area for a meet & greet with the performers.
There were clowns of all shapes and sizes and beautiful, overly made up exotic women in sparkly sequined costumes, lion tamers in red tuxedos, and the like. While walking around one of the rings .... I caught the eye of a young man in iridescent white spandex pants, no shirt and a headband (circa Let's Get Physical/Olivia Newton John style) and was instantly intrigued. I began slowly and inconspicuously making my way over to him and boldly introduced myself. He, in turn, told me his name ... and I will never as long as I have a breath left in my body forget it. He said ... in a sumptuous Chilean accent ... "I ... am Gino Farfan .... of the Flying Farfans".
Well .... as Aunt Pittypat exclaimed in Gone With the Wind .... "Somebody catch me ... I've got the vapors!" I did my best to stay on my feet for the next 20 minutes while we chatted ... well ... he mostly chatted and I did alot of nodding and nervous smiling.
He told me that if I wanted .... I could meet him at the entrance to the back stage area after the circus and he would show me around a bit. I told him that I was with a group but I would try and sneak away for a short tour. The circus, of course, was amazing .... as it always is. Gino and his family, as it turned out, were trapeze artists. Suffice it to say ... as the song goes ...He flew through the air with the greatest of ease .... That daring young man on the flying trapeze.
Afterward, as my group was exiting the arena ... I made an excuse to go back feigning the loss of my purse. I ran over to the entrance to the backstage area and to my surprise Gino was standing there waiting for me . I told him I only had a few minutes to say goodbye but that I would love to keep in touch with him. He said that his family and the entire circus was traveling by train and that it would be difficult to correspond. He gave me a P.O. Box address and told me to drop him a line sometime. Then .... he did something that absolutely shook me to the core ... he kissed me on the hand. No boy had ever ... nor since ... done something so graceful as to kiss me on the hand and I wanted to freeze that moment for eternity.
I left on the van to go back to school with my classmates eagerly and breathlessly telling and retelling the entire experience. I was in teenage bliss for weeks and wrote and re-wrote a light hearted letter to Gino and kissed it for luck in hopes that it would find him.
Months went by and as I checked my mailbox at school daily ... I was despondent to find that there was no letter back from Gino. Like most heartsick teenage girls .... I moped for a while ... but slowly found other activities to occupy my mind.
As school started to wind down and I began my trip back to Louisville for the summer ... I found a new spark of excitement in getting back to my hometown and catching up with all my friends. After being home just a few days ... I was watching television and lo and behold an advertisement came on for the Barnum & Bailey Circus! I was flabbergasted! It had been over 6 months since I had last been to that fateful circus in Virginia and I was NOT going to miss my chance to reconnect with the Chilean hand kisser!
A week or so later ... ticket in hand .... I eagerly showed up at Freedom Hall. I immediately beelined it for the backstage entrance and begged a security guard to get a note to Gino Farfan. I waited patiently for about 20 minutes and as I nervously shuffled and stared at my feet .... someone lightly tapped me on the shoulder. I turned quickly around to see that it was Gino! He gave me a gracious hello hug ... as if we were long lost friends ... and asked why I never wrote. I told him that I did write ... several times, in fact. We chalked it up to the mail getting lost in the shuffle of their travels. He took me backstage where he walked me around and introduced me to some of the performers and then it was time for the show to start. I took my seat and could not wait until the end because after that night's performance .... we had plans to go on an actual date!
I'll spare you, kind readers, of all the gory details of the evening .... I do have children you know .... but ... suffice it to say we had an innocent evening of teenage hangin' out. During my evening with Gino .... I learned that he would be in town for 10 days as the circus was using Louisville as a stopping point to retrain and retool. I went to Freedom Hall every single day and night for the next 9 glorious days and spent the most magical time of my teenage years. I got to know most of the performers by first name, I got to pet a lion, I got to fly on the trapeze, I rode an elephant, I wore clown make-up, played with trained dogs, ate more cotton candy than I'd care to admit .... amongst many many more amazing things.
Gino had his own suite in the train that the circus was traveling on and we spent many hours there getting to know each other. His life was so fascinating to me. He was a 4th generation Chilean circus performer and he had grown up from birth traveling with different shows. He was 18 years old ... handsome, brilliant, spoke 4 different languages and had never been to a proper school a day in his life. I was floating in what I knew was a very rare atmosphere for a little ol' gal from Kentucky and don't think for a second that it did not go unnoticed by me.
As they say ..... all good things must come to an end. When the day came for Gino to leave on the train ... I showed up to say my goodbyes and secretly brought a duffle bag with me full of whatever belongings I could quickly shove into it. I told him that I wanted to come with the circus and that I could train to do whatever they needed me to do. Of course, this was out of the question ... as I was only 16 1/2 years old ... but it was a beautiful, short lived fantasy. As I waved my goodbyes, with tears in my eyes, watching the train pull out of town .... I vowed someday .... somehow ... I would tour with the circus.
I, of course, was heart-broken .... for a few days .... until I realized that I was leaving for 2 months to go to Progresso, Mexico to visit my roommate Ileana Cassares. I began to eagerly anticipate my departure and as the days and months passed .... and other boys came into my life .... the memory of that amazing, mind-blowing adventure began to fade slowly into a distant haze.
Sadly ... I never heard from Gino Farfan again. When the internet revolution came about years ago, I actually googled The Flying Farfans to find out whatever happened to the family. There isn't much out there on the internet about them .... a few videos here and there ... some press clippings ..... which is deplorable because they were beautiful artists in their own right ... and actually got a shout out on Wikipedia as being influential in this field for Cirque de Soleil artists. Gino, in particular, is famous for a particular trapeze stunt that to this day has not been bested.
I could argue that I have fulfilled my vow to tour with the circus ... as most of my friends know .... my life is a bit of a traveling, juggling act. I have also had the exhilaration of flying high with my husband .... being tossed in the air and then letting go ... holding my breath and falling breathlessly in love with him, caught gently in his grip .... walking on the tight-rope of life as a mother ..... being a clown with my children .... Unconventionally, my life is a bit of a circus .... albeit a carefully, orchestrated one.
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| Gino Farfan is the second one from the right standing next to his mother with the blonde hair. Below is a link to a video of The Flying Farfans circa 1988. Gino is at the 1:05 mark. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1583776659 |
I have an amazing life now .... filled with spectacular adventures to write about .... and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. But there is still a tiny piece of me .... that wonders two things .... Do you think perhaps that my mother, as an angel, and knowing me so well ..... worked some heavenly magic that summer and had something to do with sending me this incredible, other worldly experience as a way to ease the pain of her death? And second ... wouldn't I have made a fantastic circus performer?
The moral is .... the world opens itself up to you in many different ways ..... if you are smart and brave enough to take advantage of those opportunites ..... you just may find yourself flying on a trapeze or sitting atop an elephant.
Until next time,
t-
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