Tiger's Bday!!!

Happy Birthday TIGER !!
(Tiger, my son, that is.........he's turning 24 today!!)
Wow, where HAS the time gone? I can still remember his birth "day", like it was yesterday. A wonderful , exciting day that was blessed with this beautiful baby boy.
Ok, major mommie brag time here! I want to share my happiness today by sharing what Tiger ( aka Billy Shoemaker, Jr.) is all about & to embrace his day.........he's always been a great son and so I want to honor him ....he's King for a Day!! Tiger's always been so kind to others, easy going, smart, sensitive & loving .......

Tiger starting playing the piano by sound, at an early age and blew us away. The piano teacher loved him and encouraged him to start incorporating coaching/teaching lessons with a guitar & voice instructor. Once he added the vocals/guitar, we knew we had something special! The songwriting came next.....Tiger can write songs so fast and with amazing lyrics! Through high school he led a community bible study weekly group with his music.

Tiger's all grown up now....he graduated from Texas Christian University (TCU) in December of 2008, right when the economy tanked and major companies weren't hiring. Hoping to jump right into some great corporate job after graduation , the realities of finding a corporate job in Austin set in. He took a retail managerial job at a local sports store which allowed him to play music at night. Soon he found it hard to juggle the day job with the nightly playing & managing his band, Crowded Hill. We encouraged him to embrace the time, and work on his music again instead. Tiger quit the "day job" and then focused on writing/composing more music. Forming Crowded Hill, Tiger and his band started practicing almost nightly in our guesthouse gameroom. Once they got things going, they started playing gigs around Austin & recorded a CD.

Tiger wanted more though....wanted the stable income & benefits that don't always come with rising musicians, until they make it big. Plus his precious girlfriend Meghan was in Houston & he followed his heart....Houston was hiring more than Austin, so he interviewed there. Tiger took a job this past December, in Houston, and is now a licensed insurance producer. I'm excited for his new future & SO proud of him, cuz I know he's smart , has great confidence & will do well. We miss him so much, but I know he's happy sharing his time with Meghan & as parents we all want our kids to just be happy & healthy. Yes, we miss his music and presence in Austin & loved having the band here at night to practice......we just pray Tiger & Meg will move back to Austin one day!!The band plays occasionally for private parties in Austin, on the weekends. However, I hope one day he can play again full time.
I'm telling you all of this, in hopes that maybe someday, someone in blogger-ville will listen to their music, and be the catalyst to share his music with someone in the industry! Recently he's been writing more music in his spare time, and the band hopes to go back into the studio some weekend soon , to record some more songs .

A big "shout out" to Layla & Kevin of The Lettered Cottage design blog. Layla posted today that Kevin (her husband) is possibly getting signed by another record label....woo hoo!! Hope all goes great & sayin' a prayer for yall !!

So, Tiger, here's to you today ; have a wonderful birthday, enjoy Rascal Flatts , have loads of fun,

but always remember to keep writing beautiful songs, playing your music & I hope you're singing a sweet song today!

I know I am, and it's affectionately called : Tiger.

Happy bday with loads of love,
Mom


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