Last November, one of our best friends got married and we were invited to a four-course menue in a high-class restaurant. It was fancy, oh yes, and part of the menue included molecular parts. It was the very first time that I tried molecular gastronomy – and although it doesn’t really satiate, I was quite fascinated by it. When we walked back home, with our bellies full of good food and our minds full of good memories, we thought about “firsts” and how often we actually do or experience things that we have never done or experienced before.

The life of babies and toddlers is full of firsts. Everything is new, everything has to be learned and accomplished for the very first time. First smile, first tooth, first solid food, first steps….first books, first time in a swimming pool, first time in the zoo.

But for adults? Well, turns out there are quite a few firsts every year, even as an adult. Some big ones, some on a smaller scale. Some positive ones, and some that wouldn’t have been necessary. Last year, for instance, I brought my kid to the emergency unit for the first time. But I was also spit at by a scallop for the first time. For the first time in my life I didn’t fit into my shoes anymore.  I had my first water birth. And for the first time in my life I saw a wild badger (the last two things happened in the same night). I survived my first days as a mother of two at home. We went on the night train with two kids. My daughter sang a christmas carol for me, for the very first time. And there are so many more firsts!

Therefore, I start a new category! Firsts! Because actually life is still full of them!

Today, for instance, I fell asleep on the bare floor in our living room for the first time in my life.

(You may choose between the following reasons for the scenario:

a) we had a wild party at home and I didn’t make it into my bed

b) we are completely broke and had to sell our furniture

c) we have a baby that likes to wake up before 5am and then falls asleep while playing on the floor)

And what firsts have you recently experienced?