The First Time

About a year ago, Darius Rucker, one of my favorite singers, asked “When was the last time you did something for the first time?” while I was stalking him on social media. I said to myself,  “Well, I don’t know, Darius. When was the last time I did something for the first time?”

That song stuck in my head and as it turned out, the opportunity presented itself for me to stand in the background of a segment that Darius (we’re on a first name basis) filmed at Longhorn Steakhouse. That song played continuously in the background and I learned every lyric during the few hours that they brought out steak after steak and filmed take after take until they got the perfect three-minute segment of Darius Rucker singing the praises of said steak and his new album. That was the first time I’d done something like that.

A few months later, we had the great 2018 Snowpocalypse here in Charleston. Big, fluffy snowflakes poured out of the sky into our Lowcountry, salty life. My more athletic friends insisted that we go sledding down the side of the I-526 overpass. I’m not too good at physical activities but figured I’d try because my sons were doing it and I didn’t see a way out of it. When you have a mob of people encouraging you to plummet down the side of a hill on a cracked boogie board, because sleds aren’t found in your garage when you live in the south, you must do it. So, I prayed, gritted my teeth and did it!

Guess what? It. Was. Awesome. It was exhilarating! And hearing my sons, husband, and friends cheering me on set my sense of adventure on fire! I thanked the Lord that I didn’t seriously injure myself and I vowed, standing at the foot of the hill, freezing and breathless that I would do something I’d never done before every day of 2018! That was my goal! I vowed to jump out of my box, flatten it and put it in the recycling bin. I declared that I was a new me!

Now, I haven’t done something new every single day. But I have done many things this year that I haven’t done before. I went on a waterslide designed by some diabolical human being – a small tube, with a floor that opens, and sends you flying into darkness and ultimately to a pool of water. I was terrified upon entry into that tube but at the bottom, seeing my boys jumping with joy and screaming, “Mama!!!” as I tried to adjust my swim skirt that had become a thong, made it all worth the thirty seconds of fear!

I interview and hired someone for the first time, with the support of my boss. I was an extra in a show filmed here in Charleston. I played laser tag. I wore out a pair of running shoes – there’s a hole in the sole. I did Pilates, and hollered and laughed the entire time. I got dragged behind a boat on a raft by my sister-in-law for the first time. I also kissed someone on the head, in an extremely awkward, bizarre way that I’ve never done that before and I hope that I will never do that again!

Let me just say, the risk has been worth the reward. Each little shift, each little step, each little change has positioned me to do another thing that I’ve never done before. And given me courage. Each thing I’ve tried and done, and not died doing it, has tipped the scales in favor of what Mr. Nike has long said.

Just do it.

And I am.

You should too.