Riley Green has a song out now called "I wish Grandpa's never died". It's a nice song, but one of the lyrics that I though was really good was "Wish I could learn to drive again". It's one of those things that you just can't undo without some sort of trauma blanking your memory out. Who doesn't remember sitting behind the wheel of the car and realizing just how heavy the thing felt when it turned?
I was pretty young when I got my first chance. We were on a stretch of highway in rural Saskatchewan. If you haven't been to Saskatchewan, think about looking out at an ocean from the beach...now put a straight road in the middle of that for as far as you can see. On each side instead of water, now put crops of wheat or canola and that is rural Saskatchewan. I was probably around 14 and was on a road trip with my Dad.
It felt awesome being behind the wheel of that Oldsmobile Omega. There was a small piece in the fibreglass piping that was missing on the steering wheel that I can still almost feel under my palm. I was pretty nervous at first but got really confident as I kept it between the lines on a road straighter than Alex Trebecks tie. I got so confident that when I saw the sign that said 50K to Regina, I thought I would be more than ready to tackle the city streets. I was made to pull over shortly after announcing that.
I would actually learn to drive a couple of years later in a 5 speed Pontiac Acadian (Pontiacs answer to the Chevette) in an empty parking lot of a mall (those used to be closed on Sundays). Once you learn that skill, it's done. That experience is in the books and cannot be repeated. There may be some things similar, like maybe you could learn to drive a bus or a motorcycle, but the magic of that moment of learning to drive is a memory.
My two oldest are going through a bunch of these type of memories now. It's when you start to get about that age that those sort of things happen for you. Buying groceries for your own apartment for the first time. The first real job that you need to punch in and out for. That first night that your buddies brother set you up with too many beer. All those experiences that happen for the first time are only for the first time once. Unfortunately, it's something that doesn't get the due attention and reflection it deserves until much later in life when you realize it can't be repeated.
The good news is that those first times can be experienced later in life. My brother in law was overwhelmed with the excitement of his inner child the first time he met Mickey Mouse at Disney as a grown adult. He muckled right on to that terrified minimum wage employee that resided in the pristine velvety costume and shouted.."It's You! It's really You!!!"
I've said it in previous blogs but it holds true. It's never too late to start. It's not too late to try a new project or a new experience. Maybe don't get too crazy and go for the midlife crisis head first jump from a bridge in Costa Rica with a rubber band as the only modifier for life or death; but hey maybe learn to ski, or water ski; start climbing at a climbing club; learn to play piano or write a book. There are all kinds of firsts just waiting to be initiated.
Get another first time skill under your belt and relish that moment. Won't it be something when you look back in a few years and say "I wish I could learn to ____ again"? At that point you may be so damn busy knocking of firsts that you won't have time to wish.