2012 Firsts

2012 Firsts

 

A couple times throughout the year, I found myself thinking, “Wow, that’s the first time this has ever happened/I have ever done this/I have ever seen this.”  So, I thought it was a good “blog topic”---something for me to sit down and consciously spend time thinking about and forming into words.  Let’s see what comes out:

It all started with December 26, 2011, the day I purchased my first car.  A 2012 Chevy Sonic, white in color, small in size, excellent in gas mileage.  I know that this day was truly the beginning of my 2012, and my new life. 

Since my birthday is in the month of December, I think it’s appropriate for me to consider my years as December through December.  So, let’s go with that. 

When I came home with my new car (Ellsworth, Kansas at the time), it started a whole new set of conversations between myself and my significant other; real, tough, hard questions about whether our relationship was truly where we wanted it to be, whether each one of us was happy…those kinds of questions.  This conversation has continued all year, in various forms. 

Because of these conversations, January 2012 was a month of preparation for me to move out on my own.  For the first time in my life, I was researching apartments and houses to live in.  It was a scary experience.  I’m a very detail-oriented person, which is a nice way to say I absolutely need to feel in control of everything at all times, and so it was challenging for me to embark on an adventure I’d never been on before.  January was a month of research on the computer, phone calls to landlords, and physical visits to houses to check them out.  It was also the first month that I spent of my life commuting to work in my own vehicle.  At the end of January, I moved to Salina, Kansas.  I was already familiar with Salina, as it is 15 miles from where I went to college, and is always where I’d gone to church; “My whole life was in Salina”, as I was accustomed to saying, so the relocation merely felt like me accepting god’s will for me. 

February 2012 was the first month I made a car payment.  It was also the first time I’d lived in someone’s basement, and the first time I had a roommate outside of college (didn’t consider my significant other a “roommate”).  February also marked the first time I spent a night in Salina, not in a hotel.  February 8, 2012 was the first session of my first “real” bible study: a group of women all gathered with the same books in hand, willingly gathered to learn more about the Bible.  The study was a Beth Moore one, on the book of James.  It was called “James: Mercy Triumphs”.  I am convinced that this study could not have come at a more perfect time for me.  I was so emotionally exhausted and fighting off depression and anxiety at all times from my move and physical separation from my loved one.  I knew that if I let my focus shift or wander, or if I let my motivation dwindle, or let my mind feel sorry for itself, I would soon be headed into a dangerous tailspin (it had happened before, my junior year of college; a topic for another time).  I didn’t want to go there again.  So, I conveniently found something, a group to join, for every night of the week, a desperate attempt to keep my mind occupied at all times and only allow myself to go home to my miserable basement with enough time to get ready for bed and pass out for the night.  But my James study revealed so much to me; James is my first “favorite” book of the Bible. 

From my James study, comes another 2012 first: the first time I memorized any scripture (purposefully).  Part of the James study includes the challenge to memorize the whole book.  I’m still working on it, but I have mastered the entire first two chapters.  I also recited an entire chapter of a book of the Bible out loud to a friend for the first time during February.  (I lived in this basement through the end of June 2012.  It was only five months, but at times it felt like it would never end (more on that another time).)

I then spent weeks preparing for my first ever Sondra Miller-Emmanuel Foursquare Church Easter production, which by default, ended up being my first time performing on the Steiffel Theatre stage in Salina (awesome!!).  Easter was April 8^th.  I also participated in my first Messiah Festival for Bethany College during which I was commuting from Salina for rehearsals, and it was my first Easter preparing for and participating in two Easter productions simultaneously. 

May 2012, was my first trip home (out West, Arizona) by myself since 2008.  It was the first trip I took home “just to visit”, in my adult life, not on a “break” from school, but on a “vacation” by myself, the working young adult.  Much of the purpose of the trip was to see my sister graduate from college, so this was also the first time I got to see my sister graduate from college.  J

In June, I ran in my first competitive run outside of organized school athletics; my first “on-my-own” race.  It was also the first time I went to the Salina Riverfest (good food, expensive jewelry).  June also marked the beginning of my lease at my very first apartment, all by myself, on my own.  No roommates, no boyfriend; just me, and eventually, my cat.  So, June included the first night I spent alone in a place all of my own.  Ever.

June 22^nd was Jodi’s first birthday after having graduated from college, and it was the first time I ever sang karaoke by myself.  It was also the first time we had a bonfire at church on the new front patio area. 

My first concert at the Bicentennial Center in Salina was on August 25^th.  It was Alan Jackson. 

This past summer included lots of firsts for which I don’t have specific dates, including:

• First time running on the dike in Salina
• First time parking at the church and taking off on a run from there
• Frist time running on South Middle School’s track
• First time doing a live Zumba class (Extravaganza at Genesis Health Club)
• First time having shaved ice at Sno-Wizard in Salina
• First time driving to a WV event on my own (Topeka Regionals)
• First time looking up at the sky through a telescope, and seeing Venus transit the sun
• First motorcycle ride, and first time in many of the tiny towns we rode through on the back roads on that ride
• First time playing pool at Big Nose Kate’s in Salina and eating at Legends Bar & Grill
• First time eating at Cotija’s in Salina
• First time shopping at Sunset Dillons and Baby Dillons (which, sadly, closed)
• First time watching the movie “Footloose”
• My first dance class (“Devotion in Motion” with S’ambrosia)

 

Post-summer, the firsts continued.

 

• First time making it to one year at a job after college
• First time renting movies from Family Video in Salina
• First time drinking coffee regularly
• First time eating lox  
• First time drinking homemade beer
• First time visiting Rock City in Minneapolis, Ks
• First time running on Ohio and Markley Streets in Salina
• First time visiting the Salina YMCA
• First time working a part-time job “just because” (didn’t last long)
• First time attending a show at the Salina Community Theatre (“Footloose”)

 

And, other random firsts I cannot otherwise categorize (or am tired of trying to come up with categories for):

• First time participating in women’s groups at church (Rachel, Nikki, Kristy)
• First time attending a bible study with the “older gals” at Joy’s house
• First time attending bible study with Jennifer’s church group
• First time helping out and being a part of Anthem Youth Group at church
• First time I visited Ad Astra books and coffeehouse!!
• First time visiting White Peacock coffeehouse in Lindsborg, KS
• First time I played racquetball
• First time visiting Salina Animal Shelter
• First time having a “regular dentist” and going for a cleaning since age 8
• First root canal (at specialist in Newton, KS)
• First time going to an American oral surgeon (wisdom teeth)
• First time playing put-put golf in the mall in Salina
• First time being exposed to “The Hobbit”
• First time I went to a movie all by myself (“Pitch Perfect”)
• First time I visited a friend’s house who lives “on the Hill” in Salina
• First time going garage-saling in salina
• First time visiting thrift stores in Salina
• First time driving by myself from Tucson to Yuma
• First time driving around and looking at Christmas lights in Salina (with Gloria)
• First Kansas “family” Christmas with Mattisons
• First time my sorority had a line of ONE cross (Headstrong)
• First time I hiked at Lakewood park, and at Indian Rock (got stuck on the hill)

 This is the first year I write a “Firsts” blog; one of my goals for 2013 is to do this on a more regular basis, maybe sit down once a month and think really hard and get them all out, that way I can be sure I don’t miss any, because I’m sure I’ve missed a couple for this year.  It makes me a little sad, to think that there are some memories that are lost forever.  I see each memory as an integrally important piece of my soul... I hate to think that I let any of those pieces go unnoticed.  Here’s to 2013 being a year of noticing the subtle and magical things that make life what it is.