Sunday 2 January 2011

Five Little Firsts

There’s something special about firsts and a new year means lots of firsts. This is my first blog post of 2011. I’ve just made the first entry into my crisp-paged 2011 diary. I’m about to write my first 2011 cheque... carefully! (It’s when you stop thinking about it that you get the year wrong.) And my first manuscript of the year will be submitted just as soon as the post office reopens.

I decided to do a ‘firsts brain-storm’. I scribbled firsts onto a sheet of A4 without stopping to think about it. When I read it back I was surprised to see that my list didn’t include any of the really big events in my life. They were all little firsts, so here are my top five little firsts:

1.  My first lipstick: The colour was baby pink. It was a soft lipstick and I suspect I put it on much too thickly.

2.  My first miniskirt: It was yellow and white striped and had a black patent belt. The belt was almost as wide as the skirt. *sigh* Those were the days!

3.  My first pop concert: I saw Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas billed with Gene Pitney at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall. I wore a trouser suit made of brown suede. I screamed a lot and thought I was really classy.

4.  My first car: An Austin A40 Farina with the registration DOL. I called her Dolly and loved her dearly.

5.  My first published story: Waiting to be Rescued was about a lady stuck on a high-up window ledge. It was published by Best Magazine in 1999. You can read the story on my website here.

I could have included major events like marriage, child birth, my first book, but I didn’t. I suspect that it’s the small things in life that really shape who we are... I loved that lipstick!

What's your favourite little first?