I'm a junior in college walking down the busiest party street in town on a Friday night.
Most everyone I pass, in their drunken debauchery, laughs and points at me.
"Hey, look at that guy! What's he doing? Oh my god, he's got a. . .a . . . harmonica!" Pause. Hilarity. Pause. "And. . .he's playing it!" Side-splitting hilarity.
Astute observation indeed. I was playing a harmonica. Not very well but I was playing it.
I'd been listening to old blues records for three years – including harmonica legends like Sonny Terry, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Junior Wells – and I finally decided I'd play harmonica too.
That afternoon, I had bought a harmonica – in the key of B to play the blues of course – and was ambling down the street that night playing decidedly un-bluesy melodies, ignoring the laughing and pointing.
Within a year I was sitting in with local blues bands. A few years later playing in my own band, recording with other people, playing all over town.
Tons of new friends, good times, amazing experiences, wonderful memories. And an instrument that fits in my pocket.
Not sure what was so funny about a guy walking down the street playing a harmonica. I do it all the time. It's just my thing.
And you should do your thing too. Even if people laugh at you.