The Feeling Is Surreal When Your Kid Is The Star
I’ve been doing morning radio for almost 23 years, about a year longer than my middle kid/oldest son Jake Young has been alive. It’s been an incredible career – one that I don’t take for granted – and I’ve had the opportunity to entertain and inform thousands of people since 1997. It’s fun to perform for an audience, and I’ve been on a lot of stages and in front of a lot of microphones. However, it hit me like a ton of bricks when my wife Meg sent me pictures from last week’s opening of Disney’s “Newsies” at The Lyric Theater in Oklahoma City, a show that our son Jake is starring in: there are literally thousands of people watching my son and his talented co-stars perform! People with season tickets to The Lyric are lining up for sold-out shows, and my son Jake’s hard work and years of dedication to his craft are paying off. He’s earning “equity,” meaning he’ll be eligible to work in more regional theater productions on his way to working on Broadway. My career as an entertainer and performer was never encouraged by my parents; in fact, I was encouraged to go into copyright law (!) as a young college student (Side Note: I changed my college major literally 10 times, always hoping I’d find a way to entertain for a living. Parents, don’t squash your kids’ dreams). As I prepare to leave my stage (eventually) and take my seat in the audience, I’m humbled that one of the performers I’m sitting down to watch is my son Jake 🙂
John Young