Day 3, where I usually give up on "challenges"

30 Day Writing Challenge, Day 3:  your first love and first kiss; if separate, discuss both.


Seriously?  Is anyone's first kiss their first love?  Well, maybe they are.  I was not the type of teenage girl boys seemed to want to kiss so by the time I turned 15, I was willing to take what I could get.  Sadly, I don't recall the name of the boy who first kissed me.  My friend, Cindy, fixed me up with him. We went on a date, I liked him, and just like in the movies he leaned over to kiss me when he dropped me off at home.  Unlike in the movies, he had braces and a terrible kissing technique, not to mention he went immediately for the tongue.  Clearly he had not heard about practicing on the inside of your elbow to perfect kissing.  What, you haven't heard of that either?  Try it, you'll see.  In any case, that was also our last date, which probably contributes to why I don't remember his name.

My first love, on the other hand, was pretty much 80's movie perfect.  We met our junior year of high school, he made me smile, I think I made him smile.  We went to different schools, but still managed to find plenty of time to spend together, probably more than our parents liked.  We were both very involved in youth group and I like to recall us as the couple everyone wanted to be like....at least in our joint circle of friends.  I remember feeling so lucky that a nice, cute, smart boy could see anything worthwhile in spending time with me.  His parents took me on college visits with them, and I would surely have never found my alma mater otherwise.  We took trips to Pittsburgh to visit each other's grandparents.  We had each other and the security that relationship brings in high school.  He probably never knew it, but he laid the groundwork for self confidence that helped me make good relationship choices in the future.  Hopefully, I did the same for him.  When we went our separate ways, our freshman year of college, it was a bittersweet parting.  I think we both knew it was time to spread our wings.

As a post script to my first love, like most people, we lost touch as we moved through college.  He very quickly (as I recall) moved on to another relationship, while I had a series of them.  Suddenly with the advent of Facebook (I think I've mentioned I'm a huge fan of Facebook), we were back in touch.  Unlike the many stories or urban legends you hear about high school sweethearts reuniting, I'm happy to report it was wonderful to catch up, and see pictures of his lovely family and go on our merry way, "liking" each others life events as our separate stories continue to unfold.