Our youngest daughter has her last-first day of high school on Monday. 🙌🏻Yep- it’s senior year for our girl. 🎉So the upcoming months will bring a bunch of last-firsts.
As for Ken and me, it’s our last-first day of having a high school student. If you’re keeping track, we’ve had a high schooler in the house almost every year since 2007!🥳
Sometimes, we know when those last-first moments are coming, like with senior year. There will be the last-first 🏐volleyball game as a senior. The last-first home 🏈football game. The last-first college 💻application process. The last-first college acceptance letters. The last-first high school 🎓graduation season.
There are other times that we have no idea the last-first time is coming. For example, take my Expedition Everest story. It’s one of the signature rides at Animal Kingdom in Disney World. It’s a 🎢rollercoaster that takes riders on an adventure up and down Everest. You see a Yeti. The 🛤track breaks. Everyone ❤️loves it. Well, everyone except me. After my last-first ride ended on Everest, I knew what it meant to break out in a cold sweat. 😂
Life is like that 🎢ride, you know. We can’t always anticipate our last-first times. It’s probably safe to say that they happen more than we notice. We should probably pay more attention. 👍🏻We need to seek them out and make the most of those moments. ✨The last-first time to make a first impression.✨The last-first time to turn a bad situation around for the better. ✨The last-first time to make someone feel welcome. ✨The last-first time to choose your own adventure. ✨The last-first time to be a blessing to someone else.
There’s a quote by Gretchen Rubin, author of THE HAPPINESS PROJECT, that I’ve been 🤔thinking about a lot lately. It goes like this, “The days are long, but the years are short.” I think this fits with this school year of last-firsts we’re about to enter at our house. The days will feel long- maybe even 😴exhausting. Some will be 🪄magical. Others won’t even be worth a look back in the rearview mirror. But- the year will be over in the blink of an eye. 😔👏🏻
That’s why it’s important to live out all of those last-firsts. 👏🏻Savor those last-first moments. Learn from the disasters. Snap the 📸photo. Send the text. Take the 🏖vacation. Greet some new 😍people. Ride the 🎢ride. What if…it’s your last-first time? No regrets! Get out there and 🎉celebrate all of your last-first times. As for us- this year is going to seem too short.💖
sharing the stairs 