First in a Different Way

For years, I felt like I lived in second place.
Not always spoken over, not always ignored — just quietly placed in a box. The kind of box where people decide who you are before you ever get the chance to show them.

I watched others in my family hit “firsts.”
First to go to college.
First to earn a degree.
First to get married.
First to have a baby.

All beautiful milestones. All worthy of celebration.

But none of them were my first.

Mine didn’t come with a ceremony, a ring, or a hospital bracelet. It came with blank pages, late nights, and the courage to tell the truth — even when I was asked to soften it, hide it, or keep it quiet.

I became the first person on both sides of my family to write a book.
And the youngest.

That still feels unreal when I say it out loud.

What makes it even deeper is this: for so long, I was made to feel small. Like my voice needed permission. Like my story needed approval. But a book doesn’t ask for permission — it exists. It takes up space. It sits on shelves. It lives in hands that don’t even know my name yet.

I didn’t just create a milestone.
I created a voice that can’t be boxed anymore.

Being first doesn’t always look like walking across a stage or down an aisle. Sometimes it looks like breaking a pattern no one else thought to question. Sometimes it looks like choosing expression over silence. Truth over comfort. Legacy over fitting in.

This book isn’t just a personal win.
It’s proof that my story matters — even when it made people uncomfortable. Even when it challenged the room. Even when it refused to stay quiet. It’s funny I remember as a child I didn’t want to be the second in any aspect, and years later God has gave me a first wow! Even had I gotten a degree I wouldn’t had been the first at all, even if I pursued a fashion career I wouldn’t had been the first, many women in my family sewed clothes for others for years!

For a long time, I thought being first meant being ahead of others.

Now I know it means being faithful to who you are, even when no one else has gone that way before.

And this?
This is only the beginning. 📕✨