"First Time Last Time"

"When was the last time you did something for the first time?"

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The ferris wheel loomed over us, as we stood on the wooden pier.  It seemed to stretch up into the sky.  I felt that metal circle calling my name, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know what my answer was.

I have always wanted to ride a ferris wheel.  But I don't ride rides at carnivals that travel from place to place.  It's just a thing I have.  I'm sure they are safe and I'd be fine, but I just don't take to riding those kinds of rides.

But this ferris wheel was different.  It was a permanent fixture at Pier 57 in Seattle, Washington.  Towering 200 feet tall and 175 feet wide, it stood against the sky, challenging me.  And I wanted to accept this challenge.

The first time I met this great wheel, it was not my time for the trip around its circumference. The person I was visiting would not ride it with me, and at this point in my life, I wasn't quite ready for solo adventuring.  Not quite.

I have found that in all of my traveling, each time I venture out, I learn more about myself, stretch myself past the last limits, and prepare myself for the next challenge ahead of me, without really knowing it.  The first time I was visiting Seattle, I never would have dreamed I would be soon returning, and soon doing more than I thought capable of myself.

so this day, the day of the photo, I did not set foot in one of those glass gondolas, and alight to the sky.  No, I kept my feet on the ground.  But walking all around the Great wheel on the pier awakened in me a need to ride it. The more I stared at it, the more I knew I would be back, to ride it.  And the more I thought about it, the more I determined I would ride it, even if I had to ride it by myself. 

And about six months later, I did get the opportunity to take my turn on the Wheel.  And I wasn't alone either.  It was a little frightening at first, being up so high.  But after a little time adjusting to the newness of it all, I was fascinated.  I snapped photo after photo after photo.  I couldn't believe it was so smooth, and I was up so high, and the views! oh, the views from that great metal wheel! It was magnificent.  And I was addicted to ferris wheels.

Sometimes, it takes us a bit to grow into an idea of a first time.  The fear of the unknown is daunting and can hold us back.  Others can also hold us back as well.  But keep moving forward, even if you have to pause for a moment, and calculate that risk out.  Cost analysis can be a great tool for adventurers; for sometimes the cost of the experience outweighs the fears of missing out on an experience due to this, that, or the other.

And after I rode the Great wheel in Seattle, I made plans to ride the wheel at Navy Pier, in Chicago.  And I also went up in the Space Needle while in Seattle, and then all the tallest buildings in Chicago.  Each one being a first time experience.  And, as I decided the feeling of triumph were so much better than the fear, I just kept making first time memories, one tall adventure after another.

Photo taken with iPhone 4, October 2014, Seattle, Washington.
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