January was a hit! Lots of Juggle Whatever action. Just a reminder, if you would like me to attend your library summer reading program or your child’s camp, let them know about me. Summer is filling up fast!

My love of Juggling….

Why am I doing this? I could be in a 9 to 5 job, which I have done and liked, but here I am struggling to pay bills by teaching others how to juggle. One word, love. I love it! I am so lucky to even try to create a job doing what I love most. Everyday I remind myself that. Why do I love to teach juggling? How did I come to love it so much? What is it about sharing this with others makes juggling even better for me? I ask myself these questions all the time. Juggling is fun and I have learned so much just by loving it. I have to share it.

So February is the month of Love. I have been in love with juggling for over 35 years. I was taught by a street performer when I was around ten years old. I was a kid that skipped around on everything, what I wanted to be, do and play. I really like trying everything but most things I try didn’t last very long. Juggling did. I think it was the variety of what you can learn and puzzling out each juggling pattern just leads to the next one. I just love figuring things out new problems, juggling will always offer me something to puzzle out. I would not be the person I am today if I had not been taught juggling by Brian Wendling and I will be forever in his debt for giving me such a magnificent present.

When I first started juggling I was very much on my own. I would meet jugglers mostly by going to Balboa Park  in San Diego CA and watching what they did. Mark Nizer was one such street performer who has gone on to be a very famous juggler, in the juggling world. There is a place – Juggling World. Did you know jugglers have clubs, associations, and festivals worldwide? I didn’t at first but as I struggled to learn what I could as an individual eventually I found a club at the Humbult Juggling Club in Arcata CA. Wow, what an explosion of learning! I learned all about props, passing and so much more! From there I fell in love with juggling club passing were you throw juggling clubs at each other in patterns. From that I found out about the IJA, International Juggling Association. I was unable to attend there yearly conventions for years but did start attending local festivals such as the Lodi Juggling Festival and Santa Barbara Juggling festival just to name a few. Juggling had began to be the stable part in my life. I mostly earned money by working and planning my life around juggling club meeting and time off to go to the next juggling festival.

So why did I start to show others juggling. I remember jugglers always being so willing to talk to me about juggling and what patten they were working on. Showing me how to do a new pattern. Most jugglers are very social and willing to share. One of the reasons Jugglers come in many varieties,  you could be an individual juggler or a social juggler who maybe passes clubs or stand around in a group practicing a new trick together. You could be a professional or just enjoy it as a hobby and never perform. So much to choose from. When I would developing a club or meet another juggler often times they would bring a friend, spouse or family member who did not know how to juggle. So I would show them, I mean how boring is it to watch someone else have fun, why not join in. I continued to do this where ever I was, in time it became my favorite thing to do because it was like watching the light bulb go on in someone. Wow, I can do this – look would come over the person I was teaching. Off they would go to figure out the next puzzle in juggling that looked fun to them. I think I like to remember that feeling in myself and how I feel every time I discover I can work out the juggling pattern I am working on.

I have discovered a huge reserve of self confidence, self assurance, peace in myself that is all from my experience with juggling. I don’t know if it is because it uses both sides of the brain and body or if it is just that one thing I love, but juggling has made my life so filled with the possibilities. I think discovering that I can push myself to learn something that I personally think, no way can I learn that, then I do it. This has just spread throughout all my life’s goals and dreams. My stage name use to be the Drop Juggler because I would get such nerves that I would not be able to keep from dropping in a public show. For years I would do shows and demonstrations as the Drop Juggler, then one day the audience started clapping when I was talking about how I always drop while I was juggling. I looked at them with a question in my eyes, why are they clapping? One of the kids said, “you didn’t drop!”. I was so surprised! After ten years I was finally able to do a show without dropping. Not that I care even now if I drop, as you can’t actually learn anything new in juggling unless your willing to drop. But I was proud I had persevered and faced my fear of public performing. What a lesson to learn and accomplish, face my fears and put them behind me. I will forever be in love with juggling!

What have you learned today?

Monica Buck

Owner of Juggle Whatever