The Power of a Kiss

I know I had just stepped off of a school bus but I do not recall how he got there since he lived clear over on the other side of Dundalk. We were both students at Holabird Junior (yes, it actually was a ‘Junior’ High then) so he couldn’t have driven himself but either way, there he was. I knew what was going to happen. I knew it was coming and it was making me a nervous wreck because I was in the 8^th grade and this would be the first time. I braced myself mentally and just waited. That’s when it happened… he leaned in and…..kissed me. My first kiss. A real kiss on the mouth. I let it happen and wondered while he was puckered up in my face exactly how this was going to change my life. Would my Mom know by looking at me? Would people be able to tell? I couldn’t think. My head was spinning. I turned to walk home but I felt like I was going to faint. I thought, “Something’s wrong! I don’t feel right! My head is fuzzy and I feel all woozy!!!” I’m pretty sure I floated to my house around the corner and when I walked in I went immediately upstairs and looked at myself in the mirror. I don’t know exactly what I thought I would see but I wanted to see what this new me looked like. I still felt weird. I wondered if that one little kiss had infected me with some instant kissing sickness like Mono or something. I wasn’t sure what Mono was but I was pretty sure I just contracted it and looked at myself in the mirror for signs of whatever Mono was.

After a few minutes my head stopped spinning, my mother didn’t know and I soon realized I was not dying from kissing. I pondered this as I discovered in all; it had been quite nice. Very nice actually. I wanted to do that again. And so began my love affair with kissing. It is however to be noted that not all kisses are worth remembering. The first kiss should be. Amazing kisses demand to be. How do you know the difference? Oh, trust me. You know.

A few years after that first kiss (and many other kisses), I was a sophomore at Patapsco Senior High and had developed quite a crush on a boy that I was in the school musical with. One day during rehearsals, I was walking behind the large cement wall that backed the stage. As I walked that dark little hallway I noticed that boy standing alone waiting his turn to go back on stage. We didn’t speak. We knew each other but not well. As I approached him he looked at me. I knew he could see my smile in that very dim light. I quietly went to pass by him when he reached out and took my arm. Before I knew it, he had me turned with my back against the wall kissing me. Without a word. It was an incredible, secret kiss and no one but this adorable boy and I knew it was happening. It seemed like it lasted a long time but most likely was less than a minute. We said nothing as we heard our cue to go back to stage and with a smile from each of us went our separate ways and never discussed it.

As adults, that cute boy (now a really attractive man) and I had an occasion to run into each other again. I was disappointed when he admitted not clearly remembering the kiss but said he always felt like there was something about me left undone. He said he wasn’t sure what it was until I reminded him of that kiss. He wanted to make up for forgetting that backstage kiss, so he sat in my car for two hours making out with me to say he was sorry. The kisses were amazing and he still had that beautiful smile. He now calls me every once in a while. I think he’s had a harder time forgetting that last kiss.  

At the end of my junior year at Patapsco, all the students stood outside saying their goodbyes before summer vacation. I approached a boy I knew and as we talked we both began to flirt a little. Next thing I knew he put one arm completely around my back, pulled me right into him and kissed me in broad daylight in front of everyone in school. It took my breath away! I remember thinking, “Oh my God! This is like a movie kiss!!!! I’m just like Molly Ringwald!” As I look back on that hot afternoon in the sun it occurs to me that he was way ahead of his time. Unlike the backstage boy, I latched on to this one. We dated for at least a month. Years later, he and I caught up on Classmates.com and I mentioned that kiss. Not only did he remember it, he told me what I was wearing that afternoon many years before and where we were standing when it happened. It brought back beautiful memories of simpler times and we still mention it from time to time when we talk on Facebook.

Years and boyfriends passed. I grew up, got married and then divorced. After my divorce, I began dating a firefighter in Pennsylvania. The one thing that drew me to him (aside from those gorgeous eyes) was his passion for both his work and me. I remember the two of us walking up to a restaurant in Gettysburg and as we neared the entrance he grabbed me, pushed me against a wall and kissed me like he was never going to kiss another person the rest of his life. I had been in midsentence babbling about nothing when he did it and I could not for the life of me remember what the hell I had been talking about before that kiss. That was in 2006. He sent me a text just the other day as he still does from time to time. It simply said, “KISSSSS.”

Now don’t get me wrong. These are not the only ones that stand out in my mind. There are others. Like when I dated one of our local rock stars in the late 80s and stopped by his folk’s house before going to Hammerjacks one night. As I tried to walk past him in the living room, he hooked my arm and kissed me so incredibly that I debated going out that night….or ever again. Or the one that I had been talking to online for nearly a year and ten minutes after we met face to face he leaned over in the car and kissed me mid-sentence not knowing if I would welcome the kiss or not. He risked rejection just to kiss me because he said he had waited ten whole minutes to do it and had wanted to since he first saw me.

So, what is the power of a kiss? I believe the most intimate, innocent, exhilarating moment that two people can share when they connect in a way that makes their hearts stop and flutter all at once. After reading this I hope that it reminds you of wonderful exchanges you’ve had yourself and makes you smile at the memory of them. Or I hope it inspires you to create one of those moments and risk everything because she’s worth it.

The power of a kiss leaves your memories breathless and forces your life to have color. It haunts you with sweetness and tickles your soul. The most beautiful bonus? It’s not only engraved into your very existence in a way that quickens the blood with just the briefest recollection but even more important… it’s been shared with another. It leaves you both with electricity that will quietly and sensually bind you in a way that others can only imagine.

And that’s pretty powerful.