Okanagan Nose!

I went camping this past week with 2 amazing girlfriends.  None of us had really camped before (one never had) so it was quite the adventure to take on!!

We headed into the interior of British Columbia (The Okanagan) with a car stuffed full of everything we thought 3 girls and a dog would need.  I, of course brought my nose!

We stopped in Merritt and got a Subway salad and ate it outside.  As we were eating a lady ran excitedly out of Subway and asked about my nose.  I explained that I wore it everyday day to connect with people; to make people smile.  She said some people might think I forgot to take my medication, or that there was something else wrong with me.  She didn’t think any of those things as she said I looked “normal”.  She figured that I was up to something so she had to ask.  The woman told me that I was swimming upstream and that takes courage.  “Such a simple thing can make such a huge impact”. Then she asked if she could get a picture of the 2 of us!! That was my first picture taken!! 

Someone overheard the conversation and came over and handed me a business card.  He owns/operates an advertising company that focuses on social impact/causes and he said that he might put me on their website!!  I’m going to contact him for sure!

We explored a couple of small towns while we were there.  I wore my nose to a beach in Summerland and a lady looked, smiled and said that you don’t see that everyday day at the beach.  In Penticton, we stopped at a Starbucks and a lady who worked there asked if my nose honked.  I leaned in and she squeezed my nose and I said “honk”!  That was the first time I let anyone touch my nose!  We had a little laugh about that.  In the small downtown of Penticton, we went for a walk and we past a small boy who was standing just outside a store.  He smiled at me, then rolled his eyes and run back into the store.  We were a block down and we heard him yell “You’re funny!”  Then we saw him pulling his mom down the street after us.  The little boy (who was 4 years old and his name was Triton) looked at me, then looked at his mom and said, “See!”  He obviously told his mom that he saw someone with a red nose walking down the street and dragged his mom to see!  He was so cute!

In the small town of Keremeos we stopped to look in a couple of antique/treasure stores.  A lady who was working in one of the shops asked why I was wearing it.  I said something I hadn’t said before…”To help people be in the present moment”.  She agreed that many people are not in the present moment.  She went on to explain that she sees people pulling on the door of the shop even though there is a large sign that says “Closed” on it right in front of them.  She said that many people walk around not noticing anything around them and that seeing my nose could help snap them out of it.

What an amazing trip!!!!  Camping was so much fun!!  Thank you Ally and Kristine for being incredible traveling/camping partners.  We had sooooooo many laughs!!!  I also loved wearing my nose in different places.  I love connecting with people.  A smile is a smile no matter where I go!

X marks the spot for a clown in Keremeos, BC