Another First Step

My son, who is recently five, just took his first solo trip to the park. Not with his big sisters or with me, just all by himself.

You will take tens of thousands of “first steps” in your life. You will walk places you’ve never walked before. You will walk in a new town, then a new state, then a new country. You might someday walk on a new planet. You will set foot on an airplane for the first time, or you will walk into your first job.

You will take your first steps down the aisle, perhaps. Or you will take your first steps toward the casket of a loved one.

You will march toward a battle for the first time, or you will take your first steps on a dance floor. Your life will be so full of first steps that you couldn’t count them all.

Each step takes you farther than you’ve ever gone before. Each step adds to the total number of steps you’ve taken, and no step detracts. The journey is always additive, the progress always forward.

When you are very lucky, you will be there for the first steps of someone else. Cherish those moments, and cheer for them. This is how we go. This is how we grow.