Do you think your likes and dislikes remainconstant and never undergo any variation? I used to think thatonce you decide what your preferences are they stay the same.But a few weeks ago I realized I was totally wrong.

AsI sat at the table one night, my mom passed me a bowl of greenbeans. I put on my usual "Ew, what crawled in the bowland died!" face and passed them to my sister, whohungrily scooped out a helping. Now, don't get me wrong, mymom is an excellent cook. The objects that gross me out arethe slimy, bumpy, mucus-colored things we all know as greenbeans. Normally, my mom would have ignored my face andcontinued with dinner, but she put down the mashed potatoes,turned to me and said, "I don't know what happened toyou, you used to love green beans!"

"Yeah,right! Me? Eat green beans? You must be joking," I toldher, waiting for her to jump out of her seat and say,"Darn! I thought I would get you this time! You are justtoo smart for me!"

Instead, she said, "I'mnot lying! You loved green beans. When you got your food, youwould always pick out the green beans first toeat."

I was almost sick at the thought of eatingthose green, smushy caterpillars. But later that day, I waslooking at some pictures of when I was five years old. Thereit was, in the photo album ... a picture of me eating a plateof green beans. I thought, How could I have ever liked greenbeans? How could I love them then, and hate themnow?

This isn't the only instance of change I'venoticed in the past few of weeks. I just came home from a tripto San Francisco with my high school band. We spent one day atParamount's Great America Theme Park where I went on fourroller coasters. One was normal, one had two loops, one hadfour, and one you stood up on with two loops. I rode the onewith four loops twice. Before I entered the theme park, I hadnever ridden an upside-down roller coaster in my life. Yep,that's right, folks. I have been afraid of roller coastersmost of my life.

There was a time I would have neverimagined going on a four-loop roller coaster twice and neverimagined living a day without green beans (ick!). This justgoes to show that change is inevitable. It's bound to happenwhether you like it or not. Although some might disagree, Ibelieve both were changes for the better. I'm glad I finallyovercame my fear of roller coasters. I am definitely glad thatI don't eat green beans anymore. I believe you should try tochange every now and then. Don't live the same, monotonouslife. Sample everything, even if you've already judged it. Youmay find yourself liking the change. Hey, who wouldn't like tohate green beans?