You must remember this… a kiss is just a kiss… a sigh is just a sigh..
But is a kiss just a kiss?
Not according to Sheril Kirshenbaum “a scientist”(don’t you love the sweeping generality of that phrase) at the University of Texas.
She reckons that your first kiss is one of your most vivid memories – more so than losing your virginity.
Perhaps she actually does know as she’s written a whole book on the Science of Kissing which has my favourite Rodin sculpture on the cover.
So now’s your chance to spill those beanz people. Do you still remember that first kiss really vividly?
Mine was from my springer spaniel puppy. I have a vivid memory of way too much tongue over most of my face.
Oh hold on, no, there was one before that. A boy, three years older, who played tennis and used to look out for me and walk with me, chatting, to the school bus stop. He was good company and made me laugh.
He came around to my house unexpectedly after school one hot day. June probably. I hadn’t seen him for a while. Maybe he was revising for O levels or something.
I was still in my summer school uniform – a yellow and white striped cotton dress – when mum told me he was waiting in the garden. I went out to see him and we stood in the shade of the porch. Unusually, he didn’t have much to say for himself. I remember silences. He looked at me and quite suddenly leaned forward and kissed me. His lips felt soft, dry and warm against mine.
It was brief. I can’t imagine how surprised I must have looked. Perhaps that was the moment he realised I was only 12, way too young and innocent for him and completely unaware of the power of sexual attraction.
He grinned, said “See you” and then departed. We remained joshing friends with no awkwardness whatsoever and no further romantic gestures. I wasn’t disappointed. I only liked him as a friend but it was nice to have been kissed. Just as well it all happened before my hormones kicked in big time.
Anyone else?
Boadicea's Chariot 
School disco, late sixties. She was about fourteen or fifteen with long blonde hair and legs up to her armpits, or so I realised a couple of years later when it was far too late. I still remember her name and she’s probably a Granny by now. Sigh!
OZ
School ballroom dancing classes, on the way out. Very tentative and almost forgettable, but I forgave him. 😉
Family dogs were my only comparison and they were so much more enthusiastic!
Sounds like you had good taste, OZ. I wonder what the music was? Spirit in the Sky – Norman Greenbaum. I remember that one at school discos. 🙂
Maybe the tentative ones are the nicest, Araminta. Must be off-putting to be kind of attacked full=on, all tonsils blazing when you’re least expecting it. Wish I’d had ballroom dancing lessons at school. The Gay Gordons just doesn’t have the same cachet.
“…the fundamental things apply, as time goes by!” Ain’t that one of the best songs ever written?
My one and only ‘Glasgow Kiss’ was memorable. It knocked me off my feet and I saw stars! Mind you, she was a bit rough 🙂
Whoah, Jan, now that really is spooky! Norm’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’ was an absolute favourite in those far-off days before I gave up dancing sober. You wouldn’t happen to have long blonde hair and legs up to your armpits, by any chance? 🙂
OZ
Yes Janus, it is! And if I could choose a new face, it would probably be Ingrid Bergman’s (but only if they’d run out of Catherine Deneuves).
That sounds very like a Kirby Kiss, Toc. Is that as romantic as they get in Glasgow? 😉
LOL OZ. I thought it might be! Good tune, huh? About time someone like William Orbit got hold of it, remixed it and re-released it. I’m sure it would be a hit all over again. 🙂
Answer the question! 🙂
Oh yes, I remember the first time. He was M, I was 13, we were at party next door (from which my father, very embarrassingly insisted on collecting me at 10 pm sharp)and it was the second time we met….the first time was on a ferry going to France (or coming back , I forget) and he asked me to stay up and watch the dawn with him. I said ‘no’ as I was too tired, little suspecting that my first kiss would have been then instead!