The First Kiss

Do you remember your first kiss? I do and I will tell you all about it. But first do go on tell us your story. It is time to put away depression...pack it away...stick it in the basement or attic and let's continue our celebration of LOVE.

----------------------------------------------

My first kiss

I was ten. And he had red hair.

I was living in the inner city in a row house. Down the street was a home for children. I am not sure if the children were orphans or wayward or what. But the red haired boy lived there in that big house with the huge porch. And he liked me.
I rode my bike a lot. My bike had one of those banana seats and a basket...white with a daisy on the front. I rode it everywhere within the parameters of my neighborhood. It was pure freedom...flying down the hills or even the concrete stairs of the nearby high school. I would stay out until the street lights came on. This was the sign to come home again. But until dusk I could go where I pleased.

And it pleased me to pass by the red haired boy's house.

He waved at me one day and the next day too. On the third day he got out his bike and trailed along with me. It was glorious...the wind and the red haired boy behind me. We traversed the hills and sidewalks of our neighborhood together. It was exhilarating.

We would sit on the curb across from Vern's, the corner store. I would make chains out of gum wrappers. We would sit and talk. And then it happened.

The kiss.

I wish I could recall the kiss with any clarity, but the memory is too clouded over by what happened next. I was so excited. That evening I rushed home to the buzz of the street lights coming on and exclaimed for all to hear, "I have a boyfriend! And he kissed me!" My older half- sister who was visiting my mother and me from college, wanted to know all the juicy details. I told her everything and being the older sister, she thought it was very cute.

But this first kiss wasn’t “cute” to me. Why it was love!

I remember feeling like floating. It was a feeling I had never experienced before. I could not wait to see him again.

The next day I went out on my bike, flushed and hopeful. It was then that I saw a glimpse of him sitting on the street corner. As I rounded the bend I saw something else. Someone else. A girl. Sitting with him. They were laughing. I rode slowly by as my heart sank. I waved but he didn't see me. His eyes were riveted on his new friend. They moved closer together and…I quickly looked away, almost driving my bike into a pole. I couldn’t bear to watch.

And just like that it was over. I had been so easily replaced.

I rode away...far away from that corner. I found a new curb to sit on. Alone. With my face cupped in my hands I wondered how the same boy could make me feel so special and so unspecial all within the span of less than a week.

Within a couple of days I had experienced both my first kiss as well as my first heartbreak. My first lesson: Love and loss sometimes go hand in hand. Oh and never kiss little red haired boys with wandering lips.