A few weeks ago, I was siting at a picnic table with my wife outside a beer factory. We were having a1when a car pulled up near its entrance.
The doors opened and out2whom I believed to be a family of three-mother, father and daughter. They3to be the entertainers for the evening. Quickly, the father and the mother began constructing a singing site in the parking lot. They4a guitar and a microphone. It was a hot evening, but they carefully set up the5 _.
Meanwhile, the daughter stood behind their car. She wasn't6.She was on her phone and looked to be texting. I thought to myself, "Why doesn't she help her parents7the equipment?" I8did what I should never do: formed a view of this girl.
It turned out that I was9when I had her in my office a few days later to talk about her story: a 9-year-old playing a small guitar who later10with popular singers Scotty McCreery and Scotty Williams, and has written over sixty11.
That night outside the beer factory,16-year-old Ayla Lynn Mayo was not helping her parents set up the equipment because they didn't12her to. They have a13way of doing things and she is not needed. She was on the phone texting people to come to hear her perform. That's how14build an audience. It's not her singing gift but what kind of person she is that15me. She is patient and16."I have got plenty of chances to perform and god pay, but I'm holding myself back," she said. "I want to finish school first."
Life in music won't be17for Ayla. But she has plenty of family support, a great18, and the ability to write music. She has a chance and she has already19me wrong. Don't be too influenced by first impression. It's the second impression that may delightfully20you.
