Clowning Around

We had what is technically considered the first big event through the Longview Children’s Museum today (which has been renamed, but I’m not at liberty to discuss it at the moment—big media announcement coming up in our neck of the woods—how self-important am I? :) ). Byron held his clowning workshop and we had a really good time playing with make-up and making goofy faces. I really did not expect Harrison to participate in this, as 1) he was too young for the original middle school age bracket that was suggested for the event and 2) he spent the night with my parents so he could get a haircut. I figured he wouldn’t be back home until well after the class was over at noon.

However, I got an email recently from Mike saying that they needed warm bodies; would Harrison or any of his friends be interested? The age limit had been rescinded. I passed the info on to a few friends who are in town, but didn’t figure the boy would be back from my folks’ in time. As it turned out, Dad was just about to drive up to my house for drop-off this morning when the class was about to begin. The obvious solution was to have them join us at the senior center where the class was being held.

Despite the age issue, Harrison did pretty well at the class. He paid attention to Byron’s demo and laughed at all the right moments. (He is five, after all and Byron is a clown…) When we were presented with the make-up, Harrison started smearing the white all over his face like a pro, blending much better than I would have figured possible. He got a little loosey-goosey when he started applying color with big rings of red around his eyes and mouth, but I think overall, the final result, if a little creepy, was pretty well done.

He talked me into doing my make-up as well, which was pretty fun. I took my time and tried to get it “right” and, considering that this was amateur quality makeup (especially the pencils for outlining!), I feel like I did a pretty good job. At the very least, Harrison and I had a really good time ‘clowning around’ and I think it will be one of those things we look back on and talk about for years to come.

I only got one good picture on my phone, but I’ll be getting more from Dad (who stayed around to take lots and lots of photos) tomorrow, so I’ll try to get them posted soon.