the flute

When I was 10, I joined a band. [I would say "the band" to clarify that I mean more the marching type than the rocking type, but I'm not sure I can claim that, since we never marched and we were homeschooled. So, it was never really "the" band just "a" band.]
It didn't take me long to decide that I would play the flute. My parents and I went to the local music store and, because my parents are intelligent human beings, we rented a flute.
I went to the next band practice and learned the very basics of flute-playing. Armed with some sort of instructions (I don't think I even had sheet music at this point) on how to play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and my little flute case, I went home at the end of band practice with dreams of Carnegie Hall.
I practiced the next day. Two minutes after assembling my flute and beginning to play, I had to sit down because I had hyperventilated. I tried to play a few more times, seated, but continued to get light-headed. After the next band practice, I decided to give up on my dreams of becoming a world-renown flautist and quit the band (and the flute).

You know that song, "Everybody Plays the Fool"? For a long time, I thought it said "Everybody plays the flute...sometimes." At first I thought this was a very specific experience to apply to humankind universally, but after my flute playing days, I totally got it. I specifically remember turning to my dad one night as the song played on the car radio and expressing what I thought at the time to be a deep thought: "It's so true. Pretty much everybody does play the flute at some point. I mean, I did and a lot of people do in school..." Either my dad didn't hear me, misunderstood me, or thought I was joking, because he didn't correct me. So, my belief was cemented.
Upon learning the real lyric, I found that the song made a lot more sense. I did know a lot of people who had never played the flute, after all.