#MyFirst Kiss

It's that time again, to accept Kerri Sackville's challenge and reply to her #MyFirst blog post. This week's topic is My First Kiss.

I could take the easy (coward's) way out of this, and tell the world about the first time I kissed a girl (other than family of course). That was in Kindergarten. It was the day of our class play - Hansel and Gretel. I was playing a Gingerbread Man. However, our Hansel was absent! Just before we were to go on, the teacher asked all of the boys if any of us knew Hansel's part and would be willing to step in. For some reason, I raised my hand - and was the only one, so I shed my Gingerbread Man costume, and became Hansel. In the course of our little show, I had to kiss our Gretel on her cheek ... a brotherly kiss ... and for the very first time I had kissed a girl.

But I think that Kerri would call me out on that one, so I guess it is time to man up and - as embarrassing as it might be - tell the story.

I was in high school, probably in my sophomore year - 10th (I really wouldn't want to admit it was really my junior year - 11th) grade, and was at a party at one of my friends' house. The party went about the way you would expect a high school party to go, and we played some games - including one known as "five minutes in heaven." For those of you who don't know the game, a random boy and a random girl are selected - a variation on "spin the bottle" - and then are shut in to a dark room for five minutes. The rules? Well the only rule is that at someone will knock on the door when there are 30 seconds left and at the five minute mark the door will open ... so be prepared. (A word to the wise?)

To be honest, while I was quite excited (in the way a teen age boy would be excited about the prospect of spending 5 minutes alone in a room with a teen aged girl), I was also quite apprehensive. You see, I had not only never played this game before, I had never kissed or made out with a girl prior to my selection ... not too far into the evening's activities.

It turns out, that I think I survived - not in a small part because the young lady (who, sadly, I cannot remember who she was or what she looked like) was willing, eager, and a bit more experienced at this than I was. Yes, I had my first "real" kiss that night (and a second ... and a third ... and ... ) and also had my first practical lesson in female anatomy ... and it was so much more interesting (fun!) than classroom biology.

And - for all our sakes - I think that is all I will have to say about that, except that when I started high school, I was painfully shy, but along the way, while I never actually lost my shyness (I still am extremely shy to this day - though those who have only known me a short time find that hard to believe) by the end of high school, I had learned to overcome it and even found that I loved public speaking, and campaigned for Senior Grade Rep (of a senior class of 1100 students) and won!

So now you know ...