Firsts And Lasts
Life is full of firsts—the first time you rode a bike, your first day in school, your first kiss. Firsts have this spark and energy of newness that makes them novel and easy to celebrate. But lasts? Those often pass us by unnoticed.
When was the last time you rode that bike, the last time you saw a dear friend before life swept you both in different directions, the last time you walked into that old house? Most of the time, we don’t know it’s the last until it’s far behind us, and by then, it’s too late to savour it.
I guess that’s life, not realising that any moment could be the last time we do that thing, never thinking that it would be the case. Sometimes reflecting on this reminds us that it’s important to pay attention.
How many of us thought about it being the last week in 2024, today being the last Monday. Of course, it’s not healthy to live with this knowledge and be consumed by it. But we can honour the impermanence of things in our lives, and not hold onto anything too tightly.
Moving further into my thirties, I feel that there is a transition where I’m experiencing a lot of lasts without realising it. Part of it is because it’s such a transitional stage of life, where my own family is growing, my parents are ageing, and friends are on such different paths.
I think it’s also about letting go of the idea that we can control everything. There’s beauty in the unpredictability of life, in the fact that we can’t predict when something will be the last. It makes the ordinary feel special if we let it.
Firsts are exciting, and lasts can be painful, but it’s the in-between—the messy, unremarkable, everyday moments—that make our lives. And maybe that’s where the magic is, in the quiet acknowledgment that every moment could be the last of its kind, and in the decision to cherish it anyway.
So going into this transition from 2024 to 2025, here’s to the firsts that light us up, the lasts that stay planted in our memories, and all the unnoticed moments in between. Let’s try to be present for all of it.
