Congratulations to your son and his new wife! That is very happy news to hear.
I also have a grown son. He is an honors graduate of the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences and for the last 5 years he's been happily employed as an audio engineer, monitor engineer and sound technician in Texas.
He's healthy, has good friends, is well regarded in the audio technician field, lives in a nice house shared with 2 other engineers. And 2 months ago he was selected by his sound production company to join a Norwegian band on the South American leg of their international tour.
He left Monday for Rio de Janeiro (the first stop on the extended tour), and I was a nervous wreck. It was quite an ordeal getting his work visas, and his immunizations against typhoid, yellow fever and hepatitis.
But he was able to call this morning, and he's loving it. He travels everywhere with the band and other crew members in a large van, and the first two shows went just fine. Of course he said there were a lot of details to work out, having never done sound for these guys, so he had to learn their requirements and learn the ins and outs of the venues. But he said the guys are talented musicians, and their shows are good. Today everyone was traveling together to see the impressive statue of Christ the Redeemer. And he said "mom, you know how every hotel has a coffee pot in or near the lobby for guests? And it's usually the crappiest coffee ever?" Well this hotel, even though it's really small (he says his room is pretty much just walls around a bed) has a coffee pot, and it is stunningly good. He says it's the best coffee he has even had; he could never have even imagined that coffee could taste like that. It was funny listening to him raving about the coffee in the small lobby. The whole group eats together and will spend the occasional day off together, for safety.
He'll be gone until the end of June (all over South and Central America) so I'm still nervous for his safety, but I know he's savvy and smart. I'm so excited for his amazing opportunity. He's wanted to do a live tour for a long time.