Yesterday my son Gabriel tweeted, “Where It All Started” along with this picture of our family home. He has memories of being a small boy and helping his mom and dad assemble and seal Emergency Clown Noses® on our dining room table by the hundreds.

Now we have 10,000 Emergency Clown Noses warehoused at ProAct Inc., a sheltered work place for the mentally and physically challenged in Red Wing, Minnesota. I’m told that assembling Emergency Clown Noses is the workers’ favorite job at ProAct. When I visit them to drop-off supplies I’m struck by how everyone seems to be genuinely happy.

I’m not sure if Gabriel can claim that assembling Emergency Clown Noses for ten cents a bottle was his favorite job in life, but we sure were laughing together rehearsing his clown show yesterday. At the beginning of rehearsal he became frustrated with the new scripted material, and was itching to get to the Folding Chair Routine.

The Folding Chair Routine is the finale in Gabe’s street show. The routine begins with a couple of cool acrobatic hand balancing tricks, but then quickly devolves into a comic slapstick routine where Gabriel gets smashed and entangled inside the chairs folding mechanism.

This morning I will spend in my workshop putting the finishing touches on a couple of props for Gabe’s show. This afternoon we rehearse together again. The adventure continues….