Somebody remind me not to put the horse before the cart.

So an interesting turn of events tonight; this one requires a little set-up:

It's no secret I have been playing showtunes for my kids since they were born.  My daughter has clearly shown interest, especially in the past few months.  My son has been a harder sell, despite a great video I got of him when he was two smiling and bobbing along to "Mamma Mia."  I've waxed enthusiastic about how much they enjoyed going to see the filming of Newsies and asked to have the cast recording put on their tablets, then his surprising me with asking to also get the recording for Big Fish after having only heard a couple of songs on the radio.  He has not shown any interest in performing,  He yawned and stared blankly through his school concert a few weeks ago, giving a pretty clear impression he has no interest in singing.  The music school where he is taking piano lessons also runs a musical theatre workshop and is having a musical theatre summer camp, which they are advertising with a big banner in the window of the shop.  I half-jokingly point it out to him each week, but he says "I don't want to sing and act.  I only want to play the piano."  Okay, so I'm not (really) pushing.  The fact that he is showing interest enough to enjoy and appreciate it is good enough for me.

Cut to today: his principal (who is also my wife's boss) is on the board of a community theatre in town.  She tells me he has told her their next production is going to be Oliver!  I say to her, "Too bad we can't convince our son to be a part of it," since the show needs a bunch of boys.  Putting my son to bed tonight, I take a stab anyway.  I tell him about the show, reminding him of some of the songs we have heard on the radio.  He gets that look that we probably all did as a child that is so difficult to explain - a mix of excitement and embarrassment that really defies description - and says to me, "I want to do it if I can."  I can't tell you how thrilled that makes me!  For him to suddenly come around and show any bit of interest in participating in a show fills me with such glee I can't even say.

So here is where the request to pull me back comes in.  First of all, I don't know when they are holding auditions; I'm guessing it's in the fall and he may lose interest by then.  Second, and I thought about this well-after bringing it up to him in the first place, he's only seven; he may still be too young. I hope I haven't sparked something only to have it dashed just because of his age.  So I need a little help to calm down and not get over-zealous about this.  And it is just community theatre; not to discredit them: I've had some great times with very talented people in community theatre, but it's not like this will suddenly set him off on his life's journey.  But if he can get bit by that proverbial bug the same way I did, I couldn't be happier.