Friday Five Firsts

The Friday Five prompt from RevGalsBlogPals is:

1. Can you remember the first time you traveled a long way to meet someone special?
2. Share a memory of a first visit to a new country, state or place that was unexpected or unusual.
3. What is the first thing you do on waking each day? Is it always the same?
4. Have you met up with other RevGals? Maybe at an event?
5. Is this your first Friday Five? If not, can you remember the first time you played?

Firsts are a fun thing to reflect upon today. It is my first (oldest) daughter’s twentieth birthday, so twenty years ago, I was a first-time mom in a long labor waiting for her arrival.

I believe the first time I traveled a long way to meet someone special was when I traveled by air from Washington, D.C. to Washington State when I was about eleven years old. In 1982, my dad, a US Navy officer, was the commanding officer of a new ship that had been built and was bring commissioned into service. He had moved out west in the winter and now it was May, and my older brother and I were going to the Commissioning with at least one side trip to the Space Needle in Seattle.

My most memorable first trip to a state is traveling to St. Paul, Minnesota in January 2008. It was my first visit to Luther Seminary (ELCA).  Having graduated from college sixteen years earlier, I was skeptical about returning to school to earn my MDiv but this trip introduced me to other second career candidates for ministry and gave me an hour in Dr. Craig Koester in his Genesis to Revelation class where I discovered I still knew how to take notes in a classroom. I don’t remember the temperature that trip, but I entered candidacy that spring and when the next year when I returned it was -35 (Fahrenheit).

The very first thing I do upon waking? Fumble for my eyeglasses to see what time it is! And then I tell Charlie, my Australian shepherd, to be more gentle with her kisses. She loves mornings because, obviously, she hasn't had any attention for eight long hours.


I have met another RevGal! Almost one year ago, I met Pastor Kelly Moore face to face, at a women ministers’ event that our denominations share.

I can’t remember my first Friday five but the search on my blog tells me it was this post about social media from April 2012. Nearly three and a half years ago! Since then, I have finished my year-long pastoral internship, graduated from seminary and been in full-time ministry for fifteen months. I am grateful for what each new morning brings.

One of my favorite quotes is from former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt who said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Firsts can be frightening, scary things, and maybe some of them won’t bear repeating, but they also offer new beginnings and new perspectives, and those are welcome!