News

Last year for Christmas, Tim went to Vegas and his business completely fell apart and we had to pick up the pieces and, thanks to the generosity of my parents, try to move on.

This year for Christmas, Tim went to Vegas again and came home with a job! A well-respected pro vocal group is putting together a show on the Strip and needed to double-cast, and they hired Tim. The details are still under wraps while all the contracts are being negotiated. But this certainly makes for a merry Christmas for us!

Except for one minor detail. We have to move to Las Vegas. It's a city that was on my list of "I'd rather not go there," along with Phoenix area and all of Wyoming. However, it's a great opportunity for Tim.

It was all rather sudden. He flew down to Vegas on Wednesday Morning, nailed the audition (they'd had auditions in New York, Orlando, and two days in Vegas--Tim was in the afternoon of the last day), and then flew home. He did such a perfect audition that they told him right there that he nailed it. How often does that happen?

Thursday, they called and told him he was the first choice for the role. Thursday night, they talked details. Friday afternoon we stopped walking in circles and wondering if we were awake and if they were going to call back and say, "Oh, we meant that other Tim Jones. Sorry for the mixup." We called and, after Tim asked a few more questions, accepted the position.

Suddenly Tim's employed--in a dream job that is such a long shot that we weren't even really looking for it (how many singers want a steady paying gig as their job and how many get one?)--and I'm flattered that they asked Tim what I thought of the whole thing--so I made homemade ice cream. This was not just a celebration. It was the beginning of moving preparation. I had 3 qts of half-and-half in the freezer that I didn't want to throw away when we move, and the closer we get, the more hectic it will get, so we got ice cream tonight!

And now? I clean the house first. If I can do a speed sort and pick up (maybe with help from ward members), then I can pack easily because we won't be tripping on stuff, and we won't be packing trash. Meanwhile, I posted bunches of stuff on Craigslist (couches anyone? Need a house?) and Tim has actually been whistling around the house. I haven't seen that in ages.

It's an interesting thing, getting a singing job with a well-established group in a music town. We know that Tim's skills, talents, interests, and experience are identical, but all his work that we've spent years justifying was, in an instant, validated.

Now when I say, "He's a musician," I don't have to justify it or blush.

Bizarre.