Simply US: Part Deux: Mr. QO

This post is long overdue!

I would like to know how the time has gone from Tobin playing with his Star Wars lightsaber to being crowned Mr. QO? How can it be here?

When Tobin came home and told me he was going to participate in Mr. QO as a junior, I thought there was no way he would win! That title is bestowed on seniors. So, I thought he would simply have a great time up on stage, because he is comfortable there! Make no mistake about that! He loves it. So, fun it is! It also made me think of the time my brother, Todd completed in Mr. Gaithersburg when we were in high school! I don't remember now so much of what he did or said, but I do remember he finished his talent portion, where he danced, with a handstand, so that the audience could read the back of his shirt which said, "The Boys;" he was doing the dance with his friend Adam.
So, Mr. QO was made up of talent, formal wear, swim wear, pick up line, a question and answer session, and a dream date.

Tobin's friend Lily helped him write the dream date, which we actually brainstormed while eating dinner one night. He was going to describe going to the movies as this incredibly elevated affair, describing the chairs as thrones and the popcorn as fluffy, white delicate morsels of falls finest harvest. It was great!

The competition began with formal wear. Everyone walked in with some sort of way to show their character and personality. Tobin walked in as a celebrity with "bodyguards" which was funny. Bradley and Andrew make very nice bodyguards all dressed in black. So funny!

Tobin's talent was a hodge podge of songs-popular throughout the years (all hip-hop) which he and Matt Quinn, another contestant and friend, sang together. It was so awesome and Tobin is quite the entertainer. He definitely knows how to play to the crowd.

Tobin's swimwear was a tank top, a rubber ducky swim tube, board shorts and sunglasses. He looked really cute. In his swim wear, he did his pick up line. He walked out to a girl sitting on stage and said, "you're so cute, you fell....no.....your an angel that...no...shoot... you're so beautiful you made me forget my pick up line." Tobin's delivery was perfect!! It couldn't have gone better.

Then they announced the top 3 boy candidates! I thought Tobin definitely had a chance to make the top 3, but I am completely biased! Tobin was the first one they announced to make the top 3. I was so excited and happy for him! You always want to make it to the top if you can. They called two more names and only one of them was a senior, Hoff. In my mind, I thought that was going to be who won! Of course, the senior would get it!

Next was the question and answer session. Tobin and I had practiced these the days leading up to the contest. The one question, we hadn't come up with a good answer was, "If you could be a fictional character who would you be and why?" We had talked about Tom Sawyer, Romeo, Luke Skywalker, and a whole plethora of others, but Tobin was never really satisfied with his answer. And, Murphy's Law came into effect, and that was the very question Tobin got tasked to answer! He took the microphone and did a big, "hmmppff." The crowd laughed and you could tell he was struggling to think of an answer. He finally answered, "Noah Calhoun from the Notebook. so that I could write you 365 letters, one per day for a year." Mr. Dethelson, the interviewer looked at Tobin and said to him, "I'm married Tobin," again drawing laughter from the crowd. Matt's question was "when you look in the mirror, what do you see?" to which he answered, "a man, a beautiful man who wants to do beautiful things." And I don't remember Hoff's question or answer!

All to soon it was time to announce Mr. QO! It felt like an eternity before they did. That moment of silence while they wait to let the suspense build, just about did me in. And I couldn't believe it when they annonced Tobin's name. Neither could he, I think! He ended up with such a big grin on his face! It was awesome to see!

He has already decided he can't compete next year, because, where do you go from here?!!