In each of our journeys through life, we have all had some experiences that proven to have a lingering effect on our lives. Many of these occurrences were what I have termed as “first experiences.” First experiences are happenings that are experienced for the first time. These things, in many cases, remain indelibly etched in our memories. I have selected a few first experiences that perhaps most can relate to as the matter of my consideration today.

First Day of School
I do not know how many of you who are reading this piece can still remember your first day of school like I can (though it took place over sixty-four years ago). There would be two more important first days pertaining to my journey through academic instruction and enlightenment – my first day in high school and my first day in college, respectively. However, as memorable as they were, neither had the lasting effect on me as my first day in the first grade. At that very early stage of my life, I was not accustomed to being away from the familiarity and security of my family and home environment. I was still very impressionable, nervous, and uncertain. I found myself in an environment of mostly strangers and people like me, whose youthful anxieties and curiosities permeated the classroom. Perhaps my greatest challenge and recollection of my first day of school was trying to hold my pee and not go to the bathroom. Please, do not laugh at me when I tell you that I was in the first grade and it was the first day of school when I learned how to use an inside toilet. Up until that time, I was only familiar with outhouses. Even when I attended our little Pentecostal Holiness Church in Newtown on Dargan Street as a boy, we had to use an outhouse. I learned many things my first day of school. Chief among them was how to use an inside toilet.

First Day at Work
One of the first experiences that have had a lasting effect on so many people was their first day on the job. This is truly the case with me when you consider what my first away from home job was and where it was located. To my recollection, I was going to the second grade and my parents had determined that I could accompany my mother and three older brothers to the cotton field for about two weeks. This was a common practice that many African Americans who lived in the country or on the farm did right at the beginning of the school year. Along with a few who lived in town, they kept their children out from school for a few weeks to harvest the cotton. This being my first time to be allowed to go to the cotton field, I was full of excitement and expectation about what awaited me the next day. Me and my younger brother under me, Cliff, who would also be allowed this first-time experience, walked around our little four-room house on 210 Lucius Road in Newtown, reciting, “Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, a very fine day!” We did this for quite a few rotations around the house. When night finally came and I was able to fall asleep, I dreamed of how fulfilling and wonderful the morning and next day would be. When we finally arrived at the site in the country at the cotton field, my mother put the shoulder strap around my shoulder that attached to the sack and showed me how to pick the cotton and fill up the sack. All of a sudden, my excitement and eagerness to go to the cotton field dissolved. The horrible reality of being in that field with the sun beaming down on me, plus the annoying gnats became an experience I will never forget.

First Love
Perhaps I am walking on thin ice to consider and comment about first love since many, if not most, people’s first love was not the one they eventually courted or married. Many people’s first love experiences took place when they were very young. However, they never forgot that time of being in a heterosexual relationship for the first time with someone that was not platonic or casual. There were some things about that person that you found irresistibly attractive that caught your attention and captured your heart, if not but for a season. Even if you would ultimately be released from the shackles and drama of your first love experience and connect with someone else, the memories of that season of your life have not been erased by the passing of time.

First Child
I have asked a few parents, especially mothers who have more than one child, which child’s conception and birth lingers with them the most. Right here, I need to assert that parents or mothers truly values the conception and birth of all their children, regardless of the birth order. Nevertheless, there is something unique and special about the first born that no other birth can compare to. This is primarily because that birth is the first birthing experience that a mother will have. She will most likely remember that particular one above all the others, except something unusual or traumatic happened while giving subsequent births. The experience of having her first baby is one that will linger in the memory of a mother (and some fathers) for a lifetime.

First Car
I wrestled between which was more memorable in the life of a person – getting their first car or their first house. This may seem strange to some, but getting and owning their first car was the winner over getting their first house. Perhaps because many got their first car while still in high school. It afforded them access to jobs, opportunities, and liberties they did not have before they got their driver’s license and learned how to drive. The first car may have been just an old hooptie or tin lizzie, but it took you where you wanted to go. You would invariably progress to be able to own and drive better and newer cars leaving the old hooptie behind and destined for the car crushing lot. However, you would retain the memories of your first car and how it served you well until it had to be replaced.