My Baritone Saxophone as a Vehicle

Gerry Mulligan was the first person I ever heard of who played the baritone saxophone, and I wasn't drawn to it. I admired the tenor playing of Sonny Rollins, and when I talked my parents into buying my first saxophone for me - I was probably in tenth grade - I acquired a Selmer Mark VI, which I sold, to my lasting regret, when I decided I would never play saxophone again.
Much later, when I took up saxophone again, I heard someone playing a baritone sax in a quartet and couldn't imagine why anyone would play that instrument.
Nevertheless, a few years after that, I bought a clunky Grassi baritone from a musician who was retiring from the police band, and I played that for a while.
Then, when my father passed away, in 1992, I got a bit of unexpected cash with the settlement of his will, and bought my present instrument, a Selmer Superaction 80, with which I am more or less in love.
It took me a long time to sell the Grassi, and I don't miss it.
Owning a baritone saxophone is a bit like owning the ball when you choose up sides for a pick up game: you've got to be included, even if you aren't a great player.
I've played in wind orchestras, big bands, and saxophone quartets because I'm the one lugging the bari - and I've become a decent player.
In a few hours I'm going to attending a music workshop at the Jerusalem Academy of Music as a baritone player. True, the higher instruments get to play the melody more often, but for every baritone sax there are at least six altos and twelve clarinets.
An instrument takes you places both musically and physically.