WonderGirl drove a car for the first time ever yesterday. There was nervousness, and elation, and then frozen custard.

I, however, was here on the prairie.

I haven't missed many firsts in her life. First tooth (ouch!), first steps, first words, first days of school, first real disappoinments in friends, first time on an airplane, first time reading liturgy in church, first sleepover.

But I missed this one.

One of the women in my Newly Ordained Clergy Seminar ("NOCS-ters" we're called) has a 10-month old baby here. Her husband is at home working, so her baby is in day care for the hours that we have worship and classes. She told the infant teachers that if her baby takes her first steps, they were not to tell her--she wants to see first steps, not be told about them.

Smart, but futile.