Life is full of firsts, and then it is full of lasts

FROM MY FRONT PORCH

Sam Houston is the publisher of the Hood County News. He is also an actor, author, playwright, performer and entertainment producer/promoter.

From the moment a child is born, we start keeping track of “firsts.”

Remember all the baby firsts? The first time the baby slept all night, then there is the first time they roll over. How about the first bath, first time they eat solid food, and the first time they crawl? All heck breaks lose when the infant gets to the point where they take their first steps and are then able to get into just about everything.

Keeping track of firsts doesn’t stop after infancy. We memorialize the first haircut, the first time a child goes without diapers, the first tooth, and the first time they say a spoken word. We take a zillion photos to celebrate their first birthday, first day of school, and their first ballgame.

A few years later in life there are new firsts, like the first time to shave or wear makeup, the first time to drive, the first date, and the first kiss.

Wouldn’t you think by the time we reach 18, we would be through with firsts? Heavens no! Then there is the first new car, the first job, first drink, first serious relationship, and first home purchase. All important firsts in our lives and a vital part of our cognitive memory bank.

The memories of our firsts never leave us.

As some point the cycle of life changes. Instead of firsts, there is an ever-growing series of lasts. I am not sure I realized it that when I played my last basketball or baseball game, I would never do so again. There was no fanfare nor people taking photos to memorialize the event. The game was over, life went on, and several years later I came to the realization I would never play competitive sports at that level, again. It was a passing.

Like firsts, there were many more lasts to follow. There is the last time I had naturally dark hair, the last time I did not need glasses, and the last time I could spring up a flight of stairs, two steps at a time.

As the years passed, the list of lasts continued to grow. There was the last time I saw my grandparents, then the last time I spoke with my folks. There was a last night I spent in my childhood home, the last time I ate my Mom’s peach cobbler, or the last time I went fishing with Dad.

There was the last time I got to ride my favorite horse, the last time my old Labrador jumped in my truck, and the last time I got to see some old and cherished friends who are no longer with us.

I am keenly aware, there will someday be a last for me to work, to hold my wife’s hand, to see the glow in my grandchildren’s eyes, or to sit on my porch and take in the beauty that exists in the world around me. There will ultimately be a last time I write this column. For some, that time may not come soon enough.

Hopefully the final lasts in my life will not happen anytime soon. I have traveled so many miles in my journey, I want to stick around to have a better feel on how the story will end. But it will end, and I know it. Yours will too.

Hold all those firsts close to your heart and appreciate what lasts might happen in your life either next week, next month or sometime down the road. Take note of their passing and understand the journey of life continues and is unceasing. Appreciate every step along the way, whether it be the first step, or the last. Treasure what a wonderful party the whole journey has been.

Thought for the day: My wife always lets me get in the last two words of a conversation, if they are “you’re right.”

Until next time.

sam@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 260