Monday, January 31, 2005

Mastering Firsts

I went to the gym alone today. There was a special kind of freedom to the act, an independence that did me good, although I missed my partner in crime. I had a strut to my movements, a proud tilt to my spine, and a sense of accomplishment from such a small thing. But some tiny steps are huge upon closer reflection.
Mastering firsts is my agenda of late. I have given much time and effort to small firsts, in the past few month, linking them together to make a pattern of unbroken forward motion. Like a connect the dot puzzle, I go from one to the one that grows from it in a natural line without any notion of what the picture will be when it is completed.
My only resolution for this year was to accomplish as many firsts as possible in 2005. Virgin territory is my destination. Small steps or large will not matter as much as taking any step forward at all. I notice each, giving importance to every motion that carries me someplace wondrous I have never visited before. I hold the map, I carry the compass, and I own every mile traveled.