[W David Lichty]

My references have been Savorer or Sampler. The latter sounds reductive or facile, but I mean it more in the adventurous sense (and it comes from approaches to food). In food, I am a savorer. I will eat the things I love anytime, every day. They do not dull, but deepen. I will know my favorites richly, every lovely leaf on each tree.

Samplers know so much of what’s out there. They can map the world, and know right where to go for anything. My aunt is a sampler. She loves what she’s having, and it doesn’t lose flavor the next time, but she so enjoyed the fresh experience, and knows that something else, just as great, is out there too, and she doesn’t want to miss out on the discoveries.

…I’m a savorer with music, too, it seems. Some of that is self-protection; I will dive deeply if I love a thing, I haven’t the freedom of time and costs to deep dive into very many things, and I want the freedom to fall in love.