When is the last time you did something for the first time?

Today?

Yesterday?

Last week?

Ten years ago?

Thirty years ago?

After church today, I began reminiscing about the months I spent living overseas in Cairo, Egypt about thirty years ago. Many firsts I encountered in Egypt popped to mind as I recalled some of the unusual events.

Eating a juicy ripe mango

Experiencing an earthquake

Living on an island in a river

Daily marriage proposals including camels

Learning a new language

Handling foreign currency

Placing international phone calls

Snorkeling

Making flour tortillas from scratch

International banking

Buying groceries daily

Climbing in and through a pyramid

Haggling with merchants in a marketplace

Asking for pasta sauce and getting ketchup instead

Seeing guards with machetes on every street corner

Buying meat from a butcher

This reminiscing led to me to think about my more recent “firsts.” I share these firsts to reveal and foster my gratitude for the things God is doing in my life, to celebrate new adventures in the beautiful creation He provides, to reflect my yearning to never stop learning & growing, and to embrace the birthplaces of new hope, joy and love in my life.

A few of my more recent firsts, which in full disclosure, include a few done after a long hiatus…

Kayaking downstream in the American River

Off anti-depressants for the first time in nearly ten years

Biking along the shore bluffs in Santa Cruz

Boogie boarding for the first time in nearly forty years

Overnight stays at Disneyland Hotel

Rode nearly 1300 miles and climbed 19K feet on my bike this year

Cooking class at Yankee Hill Winery

Kayak backpacking trip coming up this weekend in Lake Tahoe

I admit it feels a bit silly at the age of 50-something to be recalling and celebrating firsts in my life but it reminds me that each new day brings with it newness. New opportunities to trust God. New opportunities to love, show mercy, and to serve others. New opportunities to try something and fail. To open doors and windows to bring joy, laughter, and love to this broken world – all without hopefully breaking anything else, especially if it’s not easily replaced or mended.

What’s something in your life that encourages you or others to choose love, new life, or to create beauty and to share it with others?