Do You Remember the First Time?

No, I’m not talking about that.

I’m talking about lots of things in life that we do for the first time. Like riding a bike with no training wheels or losing a tooth or flying in an airplane. Things that are both exciting but can make you anxious all at the same time…

I was walking out of our gym the other night after a run on the treadmill and I saw an older model Explorer pull up near the entrance. I stopped on the steps, not sure if the car was going to stop and let me cross in front of it or not. As I turned to look I saw a woman getting out of the driver’s seat and a young man going to sit in it. After I crossed, I glanced back and he was driving away with the biggest eyes and a huge grin on his face.

Aw, yes, do you remember the first time you ever drove a car?

Now I’m guessing this was not his first time to actually drive but I started thinking back about how so VERY exciting it was to sit in that driver’s seat when I was 16 and have control of where the vehicle went. What power and exhilaration I felt.

And then I started to think about how driving is now more of a chore a lot times than anything else. How it’s commonplace for me to get in and out of the car 10 times a day and how driving now is just another thing I do (and usually only happens after I buckle up AT LEAST one child).

I thought, Wouldn’t it be so cool to be 16 again and have that “high”?

It’s kind of shame that things that were once so exciting now seem mundane.

I mean I used to think it was SO awesome to be in my own apartment (living on my own was a huge first for me!) and that I could do my OWN dishes (not my parents’ dishes…) and laundry in MY home.

Yeah, I’ll admit, I never got the same “high” off of those things as driving, but you know what I mean. And of courses dishes and laundry are totally “for the birds” now! 😉

But coming into adulthood and knowing that I had my OWN things…..Wow.

What I’m trying to say is that there’s just nothing like the first time with a lot of things in life. (Even with having a baby, no? WHOLE ‘nother post…) And I just thought it was really fun to see that boy’s face after his mother relinquished control of the car to him. He was literally beaming.

Maybe I’ll just pretend next time I get in the car that I am 16 again and driving is still new and exciting… (but do my best not to hit another car like I did the first month when I was really 16. And so what if it was a classmate’s father’s car and I was only going like 15 MPH and I was just young and inexperienced…)

p.s. I will have to give up the driver’s seat to this one when I’m 50. O.M.G. I hope I’m still running and in good shape at that point because, Hello! Heart attack!!