Embracing More “First Times”

I am a scheduled person who craves routine, so it is rare for me to do something out of the ordinary and for the first time nowadays. Therefore, I was very surprised when I looked back over the past couple of months and saw that I had done something for the first-time: career wise, vacation wise, and parenting wise. Some were small feats and others were kind of big, but all of them achieved memory-making status.

A Career First

I love writing, but aside from Tessa, I do not really have anyone to share the experience with because very few others find talking about grammar and narrative voice thrilling. I have a lot of on-line contributor groups that I follow, but I am not a big social media chatterbox, and I prefer in-person, in-depth conversations.

So when I was asked to speak at an author’s panel in Omaha, I nerded out and got overly excited. This was my chance to discuss third-person versus first-person writing with people who actually care about the subject. I would hear about submission struggles and facing writer rejection with others, while also offering my own opinions regarding word counts and deadlines. It meant I got to rub shoulders with talented individuals who write for a living. This first-time experience also involved me speaking to aspiring high school writers, which was flattering and fun.

The panel was a blast. It included poets, novelists, an illustrator, a columnist, and more. The students in the audience were thoughtful and attentive, which led to almost a two-hour Q&A that went by in what felt like fifteen minutes. The panel members all enjoy writing, and it was great to feel among “my people”. I sat next to an author who writes while her child naps, just like me, which lets me know that I am not crazy for trying to find a work-life balance as a freelancer.

If you are lucky enough to be passionate about your work, find colleagues or peers to share in the experience. It is worthwhile. This was my first (and hopefully not last) author’s panel.

A First for My Husband and Me

I met my husband in college, and we have taken countless trips together over the years. We are creatures of habit, and our typical vacation routine involves family-friendly venues and a brewery if we can manage it. Recently, we got out of town for a rushed 48-hours to Kansas City. Instead of hitting Boulevard Brewing and Crowne Center, we visited The Roasterie where the best coffee I have ever sipped is sourced. We drank fun lattes, took a formal tour of the plant, and bought our weight in air-roasted coffee beans. The caffeinated high was icing on the cake.

That day we also visited a cave park that had hiking trails and remnants of a historical settlement. I had never been to a place like this and it has been almost a decade since I have gone to a park that didn’t have  playground equipment. We also visited a bee farm and got pedicures together. It was an afternoon full of “first times” that revolved only around what my husband and I wanted to do for the day. Our time together is so routine, that whenever we step out of the ordinary we get almost giddy. The brief respite from diaper changing stations and playing I-Spy in the car was refreshing and doing something for the first time made the trip more memorable.

A First for Our Family

I have a like/dislike relationship with Easter, and this year my attitude was no different. Easter is hectic due to spring-like weather that toes the line of winter too closely. There are either too many Easter egg hunts or none on the only given day my kids are free to attend. Easter also comes on the heels of Spring Break, so making it memorable usually does not rank too high for me. This year, I did spice it up a little with a couple of firsts that will make Easter 2018 live in infamy within our household.

Instead of an egg hunt, I created an egg treasure hunt. The weather was too cold to scramble around outside for plastic shells or hard boiled yolks, plus my family is still trying to plow through the mountain of candy that came courtesy of Valentine’s Day and good old St. Patty’s. We had friends visiting for the day, so I hid paper clues in eggs throughout my house. My gal pal supplied the treasure of everything we needed to color eggs. It was a Mom-Win for the ages. Children ages 4-9 loved hunting down the clues, and dyeing egg shells afterwards as a reward.

Easter day my family also went outside the norm and did a group baking project. We made a poppy seed cake based on a Ukrainian recipe for the holidays. The poppy seeds are meant to symbolize new life for Spring, and there are also religious undertones that fit nicely with the meaning of Easter. The recipe called for simple ingredients and all of the baking steps involved a process that was fun or interesting for my kiddos. We separated eggs, sifted flour, and soaked poppy seeds in milk all en route to creating a pound cake with a story. The dessert was then taken to my in-laws where grandma and grandpa got to hear all of the background information regarding the history, tradition, and baking process of the cake.

All of these “first times” kind of snuck up on me, which helped me realize how great it is to be surprised and step out of my self-imposed repeat cycle. First time experiences are rarely forgotten. They can make for the best memories especially as life travels forward at full speed.