I tend to have words for every occasion, but the other night, when my friend Richard Verdoni, who comes from the family that runs the Hermanos Atayde Circus, invited me to see the show, it left me speechless.

It had been literally decades since I'd last seen a circus. Writers are not supposed to use clichés, so forgive me for the following: I felt like a child again. My mouth gaped through many of the acts, particulary the tightrope walker.

As a boy my favorite story was Toby Tyler, about a child who runs away to join the circus. Does the fact that to be Toby's story was my dream say too much about the kind of family in which I grew up? Or do all kids dream about running away and joining the circus?

Click here for more information about the Hermanos Atayde Circus, which is playing throughout the summer. If you go, you can see this tiger doing the moonwalk to the tune of "Billie Jean."