Sometime in late February 2004

Let me preface this by saying that Glenn and I have never claimed to be normal ...

With that in mind, I'll let you in on something that Glenn doesn't always tell people. In fact, I would probably never have been privy to the secret had I not been celebrating a good day of tips with Glenn. We were at Changes one night after sunset, same as always, when Glenn gets this starry look in his eye. I thought that it was allergies, but then he starts to lean back and folds his arms across his belly.

"Lukie, did I ever tell you what business I was in before I came to St. Croix?" I seem to remember him mentioning construction a few times, so I gave that as an answer.

"You believed that? Despite my nimble agility? My keen sense of balance?" He was turning the bottle of Heineken in his hands as he spoke.

"Hm hmmm. Pilates?" I ask.

"Pilates would never sculpt your shoulders, your biceps, your ... everything. Not like the world of acrobatics."

I don't know what to say, so I motion to Amber that we need another round.

"Lukie, before you were born, I had a different career. I wasn't always the instructor who sits before you now." I nod. "Lukie, I was a carnie. In fact, I was the best loved of all the carnies. I could do it all: the tightrope, the ring of fire, the clown car ... I had them eating out of my hands. My first partner, Ushwanka, was beautiful and could balance on my palm while I rode my unicycle. She would twirl a baton of fire ... it was beautiful while it lasted. Well, she got her own act. I got a Pomeranian. Life don't always work out how you plan, kid. But, like I always say, when life hands you mayonnaise and radiator caps, make Wardolf Salad ..."

I sat there in awe. I had never bought a beer for a carnie before. I knew things would never be the same between us. It was as if he just told me that he was one of Britney Spears' backup dancers. All I wanted to do was to be near him. But I also made him promise me one last display of his glorious act.

Below is Glenn's last act as a carnie and my premiere as an apprentice... enjoy.

Some of us can aspire to greatness. Some of us can only hope to be near greatness.

*No carnies were harmed in the filming of this sequence.