On Sunny Lane: Try It - You Might Like It

Sweetheart and I went to a Bluegrass festival last Saturday. (You know how Sweetheart and I like Bluegrass music.)

It started at 9:15 a.m. and went until 11:00 p.m. Eighteen bands played, for 35 minutes at a time. That was entirely too long for Sweetheart and me, so we went at 4:00 and left about 8:00. That is when the bands we really wanted to hear were playing. In the middle of it was a band that EVERYBODY likes.

We like them, too, except that, even though they play the traditional guitar, banjo, bass, fiddle and mandolin, they really don’t play Bluegrass. They play country/rock/oldies. And, maybe that is their charm, because many people come to hear them perform and leave as soon as they are done.

I think that is extremely rude.

I fully understand that audience members have the prerogative to come when they want and leave when they choose. However, there are many talented musicians who do not get the patronage they deserve. In fact, the group that followed the people’s choice was excellent. Even though I had heard them play before, I had forgotten how good they were.

Now the amazing thing is that the people who left prematurely might have liked the next band, too, if they had stayed to listen. After all, they had to be open to suggestion when they listened to their favorite group for the first time or they couldn’t have developed an affinity for them.

That’s the way it is with trying something new. Maybe you will like it and maybe you won’t, but how do you know until you try?

When I was a little girl I hated to eat eggs and I would not eat them. I’m sure my mother was at her wit’s end trying to get me to eat, what she believed was, healthy food. Finally, one morning, my mother fried an egg and put it on a plate in front of me. I sat there and looked at it disapprovingly.

My older brother sat down beside me, cut it into little pieces, put some on a fork and offered it to me. I took one bite and then ate the whole thing. Since then I haven’t met an egg I didn’t like.

What I’m trying to tell you is - when a new situation arises:

-Try it. You might like it.

-Don’t knock it if you ain’t never tried it.

-You don’t know what you might have missed.

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Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com