First Time

I was racing around the marbled walls of Mother Mutual the other day and zipped past a tacked-up sign printed on copy paper that caught my eye, and it's been with me ever since...

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

It was only 2 days ago, and I can't tell you where I was in the building or whose cube it was hanging in, although I have this feeling, for some reason, that it was a man's cubicle.

I was rushing to a meeting (to talk about another meeting....what?!) and it never occurred to me to stop and say, "Hey, that's a great sign." That would have been a first.

I looked it up tonight and found references to it having been an airline commercial, attributed to a "leading international corporate branding" expert, and noted on an adult web site (could I make this up?!).  Clearly, this isn't a novel idea.

But it was novel to me. It really made me think, another first - and I'm only sort of kidding.

Things are so busy. I am not saying that to excuse behavior that can be deemed lazy, complacent, or ambivalent. It's just. So. Busy. Firsts are not something I devote a lot of time to.

What have I done recently for the first time?  In the last few months, I learned how to make an Indian meal that tastes remarkably like Chicken Tikka Masala. I learned how to shoot and edit - pretty well - video on a Flip camera. I (re)learned how to ride a bike...it had been so long, it practically qualified as a "first." 

Not an auspicious list.  I'll add it to my list of new year's resolutions...another first...