Today Is The First Day…

…of the rest of your life.

A poster with that sentiment hung on the door to my fifth-grade classroom at Trinity Elementary School. I remember as a child not understanding what it meant, because the first day of the rest of my life started the day I was born, right and today wasn’t my birthday, wtf?

I asked my teacher, Mrs. Crowley – who later became the Principal, but that’s neither here nor there – to explain it to me.

“Vinnie…” she started as she sat me down. “Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Not the first day of your life. Today is the day in which you decide where you’re headed on this journey. Today is the day you commit to living a full, moral, productive life.”

“But what about tomorrow? Won’t tomorrow be the first day of the rest of my life?” I asked quizzically.

“That’s the magic of life.” She responded. “Everyday is the first day of the rest of your life. Everyday you’ll be faced with problems and dilemmas and issues that make you question the way you do things, those questions will lead to answers, and those answers, will alter the course of the rest of your life.”

Today August 14, 2010, the day I board the Boat, is the first day of the rest of my life, and the best ting about that? If today doesn’t go as planned, the next day or the next or the next, will still be the first day of the rest of my life. We can always start over, that’s the glory of life.