BOERNE, Texas — When you think of the circus, you might imagine grand spectacles, uncontrollable laughter and incredible feats.
Lorna Spellman doesn't have to dream up these things. She simply has to remember.
Nearly 50 years ago, Lorna embarked on a journey so bold, it sounds like it came straight out of a movie.
She ran off to join the circus with her best friend, when the pair were just teenagers.
“She was found by a talent scout at Barnum and Bailey's Ringling Brothers Circus to join the flying trapeze group to tour, and they needed a second girl to do the high dive into the air mattress. So Barbie called me up and asked if I would like to learn how to do that,” Spellman said.
Together, Lorna and her friend Barbie embarked on the kind of adventure most people can't even dream up.
Her memories of the circus came from atop of elephants, center stage of dance productions and – most outrageous of all – the top of a tiny platform, where she performed a 35-foot head-first dive onto a tiny air mattress.
“It was pretty scary in the beginning,” Spellman said. “We would have usually two shows a day and three shows on Saturday, so you kind of had to do it over, over and over, so you kind of got over the fear factor.”
Lorna traveled around the country for a year, but gave up her crazy life on the road to be with the man who would become her husband.
Now, she's settled down with her family in Boerne, but still finds a way to share those thrills with others in Central Texas.
At Boerne Trapeze, Lorna is the ringleader. She is teaching the next generation what she learned from Barnum and Bailey's.
“I think kids need an opportunity to find their multitude of talents,” she said. “Not everyone can do the same thing. Not everyone fits into the same mold.”
And the most valuable lesson here isn't how to walk a tightrope or how to fly in the air. It's how to be fearless.