Ready to Begin!

I got my dulcimer delivered a few days ago. I am so looking forward to learning and making beautiful music! I've been reading over some of the forum posts in the two groups I joined, Beginners, and Chord Players, getting a sense of other people just starting. The style I'm after is strumming with chords while making melodies. The instrument came with a How-To book that seems helpful. One of my issues is going to be frustration that I can't play it wonderfully, straight out of the box. Ha! My plan is to ultra-familiarize myself with it, just picking out melodies and strumming the drones, and adding a just few chords at a time so I don't get overwhelmed and then despair. I'll be changing my profile pic soon to show my dulcimer! (McSpadden)