A first time for everything

Life is full of first's. The first time you kissed someone not your parent, the first dance you attended, your first car, first apartment, house, husband or child. Then the firsts slow down and life becomes routine. You don't see as many firsts as you get older, but they don't stop. This is the first time I've spent Christmas away from home, the first time I didn't make cookies, decorate the house, and the first time I have not had Christmas breakfast with the family. But on the other side of the coin, this is the first time I didn't feel rushed, the first time I didn't spend more money than I had in my checking account and the first time I wore a tee shirt on Christmas day. Some firsts are good, some not so good, but they don't stop, it gives us something to look forward to. Dave and I have had a different holiday, calm, peaceful and yet happy. Friends filled our day. Randy and Ellen, family in our hearts, visited while I was putting up the hammock. We laughed about how our lives have crossed and brought us to this place. It's because of them that we stopped in Oriental for what was supposed to be a night or two. Now it's going on two months and we are still enjoying it as much as the first week. Melinda and Keith stopped by to say Merry Christmas. He's a computer wizard, hooked me up with wifi, Melinda is a love who has a great garden full of herbs, blue bottles and bricks. They brought us a bobble-head dog for the wheelhouse, a pair of poka-dot socks and Snow in a Can. Our afternoon was spent with Billy and Donna. She made a great Christmas dinner, ham, roasted veggies and corn pudding. What a treat. It's not like Christmas in Truro, it's the first one while living on a boat, but it was a good one. So what's next? I'm looking forward to First Night, where here in Oriental they have the running of the Dragon, a sixty foot monster with many people under it. I'll get out a pot to bang on and join others in the street to make lots of noise and keep the dragon moving. It will surely be a first.  We wish you the joy of many firsts, may they all be blessings.  Fair winds.