Firsts! Enjoy all the moments; especially the feeling of Firsts . . .

(Before I do anything else: A BIG HAPPY HUGE BIG FAT FIVE OH BIRTHAY WISHES TO ANGIE, GUMBO WRITER, AND HER TWIN ALAINE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!)

How quickly things can progress when ones dreams are becoming reality. Sometimes we barely have time to savor the taste of one dish before another is put before us. Ever been to a restaurant and you order an appetizer and right when you take a nice luscious bite of that appetizer, the waitress is heading your way with your entree? One of my pet peeves! I want to enjoy that appetizer, that's why I ordered it--that's what it's for, to eat and enjoy before the meal. So, one must either gulp down the appetizer to get to the entree before it's cold, or try to eat both, or take it home or don't eat it, whatever. But the moment of that First, that enjoyment of that particular dish, is gone when one has to concentrate on the Next Thing so quickly.

So I was thinking this morning about savoring, and about firsts. I thought of my Firsts with Tender Graces. I’ll never have firsts like that again—when Secret Graces is released, some of the same experiences will happen, they won’t be firsts again. It isn’t to say I will never experience Firsts with TG or SG or any other book(s) I may publish, however, there are certain Firsts I experienced that brought such excitement and joy to me, because I'd dreamed about them, wished for them, tried to imagine the feeling so many times—some I recorded with my camera—and those things won’t return as Firsts again.

The first time the UPS woman brought me my box of Tender Graces—some I’d pre-ordered and some were my author copies from Bellebooks. It was funny because my brother Tommy received his copies of TG before I did and called me to say, “It’s here! It’s here! I’m holding your book in my hands! I’m looking at it; I’m opening it and (then he read a piece of it to me over the phone), It’s here!” and we were laughing and near about crying and I said, “Where are mine? I can’t believe you got yours first!” So that by time the UPS woman came a day or two later, I was fit to be tied. I snapped her photo, then the box, then the opening of the box. I took a photo of the first time I held TG while lying back on my faux-bear throw, the first time I slid it on my bookshelf between my former poetry teacher David Madden’s book and my handsome good friend Adnan Mahmutovic’s book – isn’t that something? To be between two people I know on my bookshelf? What are the odds? I have my first book signing at indie bookseller Osondu Books; the first time someone sent me a photo from Barnes & Noble in Baton Rouge where they looked for and found my book on the shelf (thanks Angie!), the first book club at Osondu.

All those firsts brought such joy and I never want to forget those feelings. As I write/edit Secret Graces, I want to remember that joy and excitement and let it carry me forth and onward.

What are some Firsts with you that you cherish or remember with excitement?

(PS - I'll be blog-walking tomorrow - I miss visiting you all regularly! If you are new and visiting, thank you~ I'll be round to see you tomorrow. and those of you who come by to see me regularly, my buds, I'll be seeing you too - - oh, I hate missing my daily blogwalks, but I love catching up on Sundays. Soon, when the manuscript is turned over to my publishers, maybe my time will be a tad free-er; of course, then we start the next phase....lawdy! *muwah* - thank you all for your support, you are the best!)