I first met Tim in high school when I was cast as Ado Annie and he was cast as Will Parker in the musical Oklahoma. It was the beginning of an amazing friendship, one that is still going strong 40 years later.
Any occasion was a chance for Tim to perform, and when I’d come to pick him up at his house in those days, he was usually just out of the shower with a mop of wet blonde hair.
As his captive audience, I’d sit on his bed as he wildly danced to some 80’s tune, hairbrush for a microphone, like a pop star from MTV.
He was bigger than life, and I’d laugh hysterically.
So maybe it wasn’t too surprising that at the age of 59, Tim’s dance moves finally went viral when he won the raffle to conduct “Sleigh Ride” with the Chelsea Symphony Orchestra in Manhattan. Although this time he was sporting a baton, not a hairbrush.
Wait till you see it. (See link below.)
By Sunday, it had 3.4 million views, as some of the audience members had put it out on social media with the caption: “This man won the lottery to conduct, but the real winner was the audience!” Soon CNN and other tv stations were setting up Zoom interviews with him.
You can’t watch Tim conducting/slaying “Sleigh Ride” without being filled with joy. It will make your belly laugh. It’s delightfulness is infectious. It’s spreading joy at its best.
So here’s the takeaway. What if each of you choose to be like Tim this holiday season, and sometime over the next month, create your own raffle winning moment by doing something a little outrageous, a little outside your comfort zone, a little spontaneous, a little unexpected…
Tis the season to spread joy and happiness. May you be the spark that spreads it.
Leave a Reply