Second Time Around

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Recently, when talking about TV and streaming shows we were watching, several Reds and readers mentioned A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Now, I was in a bit of a drought. Except for the Korean crime drama BEYOND EVIL, I wasn’t feeling it for a lot of shows. I would turn something on and then wind up spending half my time looking at my phone instead. 

 

But I decided to give ADOW a try. Another try, I should say. I’d watched the first two episodes quite some time ago, and my takeaway at the time was 1) Wow, that supposedly accomplished professor and scholar has no self-preservation skills whatsoever and 2) errors. I can’t remember what errors I noticed, because on the second go-round, I absolutely fell in love. I’ve been streaming three episodes a night since then.

 

Which got me thinking about the phenomenon of “the second time around.”

 

Why did I loathe mushrooms as a child, only to find them delicious when I had them in Italy in my twenties? Why did I wrinkle my nose at olives right up through my forties, and now toss them into everything? 

Sometimes, only appreciating something at the second (or third, or fourth) try makes sense. I read THE SCARLET LETTER when I was around thirteen, and no surprise, I got nothing out of it. I re-read it, on a flight of all places, in my early thirties and found it to be a stunning work. I needed to grow and learn before I could understand what Hawthorne was doing.

But what about sleeveless shirts? I avoided them up to my fifties, because I didn't want anyone to see the wobbly bits on my arms. Now those shirts make up 90% of my summer wardrobe. And let me assure you, my arms haven't gotten LESS wobbly. Was it the temperature fluctuations of menopause? Is my give-a-damn busted? It's a mystery.

How about you, Reds? Any flavors, fandoms - heck, relationships - that you only appreciated the second time around?

 

HALLIE EPHRON: Well, my big one: I broke up with my sweet to-be husband before I succumbed to his blandishments. He turned out to be an acquired taste, and thank goodness was extremely persistent. Lucky me because it’s horrifying who I could have ended up with.

 

LUCY BURDETTE: Hallie, my story is similar to yours. When my sweet hub John called to ask me out on a date, I turned him down but suggested we play friendly doubles tennis instead. After about six months of that, I realized that I’d made an error in judgment: he was a keeper, cute, funny, and smart. This time, I did the asking out!

 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Oh, my Jonathan story is the exact opposite, but that’s another blog. Second time around, food edition: Scrambled eggs, tuna salad. As I kid I couldn't even think about those things. Now I adore them. Why? What happened?

 

TV edition: The Wire. We started The Wire, right when it came on. I thought–huh? I don’t even understand it. A few months later, I thought–maybe I’m watching it wrong. We tried it again and it’s the best thing I’ve EVER seen.  Why? Well, I can tell you I realized that I was put off by the slang–I didn't understand it. But then I realized the writing was SO excellent that it would explain the very words that were not in my vocabulary in the very next sentence..so when I stopped worrying about it, I adored it.

 

JENN McKINLAY: It took me five tries before I could get into reading the first Harry Potter book. 5!!! I don’t know why I couldn’t get past the first few chapters - they weren’t bad - it was me. I was the problem. 

 

I, too, did not love olives until my forties and now I love them on most everything. I also love spicy food, which I never liked before moving to AZ and then it took me years to acquire a taste for it. As for shows, the only one that comes to mind that took me a while is The Family Guy. Didn’t get it the first time I watched it but it grew on me and I think it’s hilarious. 

 

Off topic, Hub and I just started watching HACKS on Max - it is FANTASTIC!!! I love that Jean Smart is crushing it in her seventies, but also the juxtaposition of a Boomer and a Gen Z makes for some pretty funny dialogue.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Julia, you are seriously tempting me to watch ADOW again. But even as much as Rick loves Teresa Palmer (a lot!) I'm not sure I could talk him into Round Two…

 

Love the second-chance hubbies theme here! You can count us in on that. Rick and I dated on and off for about six years, then in one of the "off" periods, I met my first husband. (Rick was the one who introduced us!) Off I went to Scotland, marriage and child following. Fast forward fourteen years, divorced, Rick called to wish me "happy birthday." And that was, yikes, thirty years ago! But there are things I wish the picky eater hubby would give another chance, like mushrooms, olives, chickpeas, tofu, etc., etc., etc.!

 

JULIA: How about you, dear readers? What food/book/husband did you learn to appreciate the second time around?