Who's On First?

Christiaan Barnard, Neil Armstrong, Sandra Day-O'Connor - famous firsts. What about us folks on the bell curve? Where/when have we been first? And from which arena? Among our family? From our high school? Hometown?

Started reflecting on this while dissembling some framed retirement paraphernalia a few days ago. Although the frames can be re-used, until noticing a "first" mentioned in one, I'd planned to discard all the documents. I then decided to save that one document to remind me of a modest work-related accomplishment. Though not nearly as significant as performing the world's first heart transplant, walking on the moon, or being the first of my gender to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, it is a first nonetheless.

Then while sitting alone in a memorial garden late yesterday, I saw several of the plaques commemorating the firsts of local people. Folks much like me or you, I suppose. Occurred to me that each of us can benefit from acknowledging our own firsts, no matter the size of the arena or whether our accomplishment has been turned into a public plaque. For the record, my wife was the first person from either of our families to complete a triathlon and she was responsible for starting the first farmers market in Montgomery township. I'm the first family blogger. Your turn.