Lasts
admin March 19th, 2008
We are a people of firsts. First steps, first words, first days at school, first kiss, first car, first love…
Rarely do we recognize lasts.
And not because we don’t care, but because it is so difficult. Only death row inmates recognize their last meal. And “living every day as if it was the last” really is a recipe for disaster. If today was my last day I certainly wouldn’t worry about going to work, paying bills, eating right, making lists, meeting tomorrow’s deadline, laundry, resume prep, cleaning the bathroom, or all those other “planning ahead” things that make our lives run smoothly. I’d be eating pints of ice cream running naked through South Beach and skydiving. Still, sometimes I wish I remembered a few more of my favorite lasts.
I wish someone had told me to remember the last time my father would be able to flip me over his head, or the last time I would dance standing on his feet. I wish I had known that when my best friend moved we’d never really get back together. I still refuse to believe that I have played in plastic balls or collected static from a plastic slide for the last time. (Just you wait Burger King Kid’s playhouse!).But I do wish I had known the last time I would pet my childhood dog before she died. And I always make sure to tell my husband how much I love him before he leaves somewhere without me, just in case. Maybe knowing too many lasts would dampen the happiness in some moments, but sometimes I wish someone had told me at those instants to pay more attention, that just perhaps, I could try to commit this to memory.
This is why the lasts we do recognize are so very important. I truly enjoyed the last class I would ever have to receive a grade in. I can’t say I enjoyed my last final, but I did enjoy it being over. The last meal at the kiddy table was certainly appreciated, as was the last year I had to ask someone older than me for permission to go to the bathroom. My bachelorette party was most likely the first and last time I will ever compete in a wet T-shirt contest, and probably this is a good thing.
I think the idea of getting another chance to participate in some of these “lasts” is part of the reason why people consciously have children. I really hope to be able to at least look on as my son flies weightless in a swing, builds a rocket, catches bugs, sells lemonade, eats sand, and enjoys his grandparents. I will of course celebrate the firsts, but I hope I can also help him enjoy some of his lasts. Maybe I will tell him to pay attention, to commit the moments to memory, but most likely even if I knew a moment was a last, and even if I told him, he wouldn’t listen to me. Time is so infinite for children.
In the same spirit, I am really looking forward to my graduation ceremony coming up (hopefully) in a few months. Graduations are some of the few times we really get to sit up and acknowledge the end of something important. Graduation marks a last of achievement, not just growing up or growing old. This will most likely be my very last time to don a silly hat and cape, walk across a stage, and publicly acknowledge a job well done. I can understand those who would rather not deal with the crowd, the waiting, the thousands of other names called out monotonously just like theirs. But this, I think, will be it. And just in case, I don’t want to miss it.
Graduation, though, is never only about finishing, it is about starting something new. I hope to be able to walk across that stage wearing not only my cape, hat, and hood, but my baby as well – a last and a first simultaneously.