A Tale of A First Kiss

 

As a point of fact, I’m required by mom law to say that Lil Miss just stated that this picture is “so nasty!” because only boyfriends and girlfriends kiss and not mommies and daddies. Methinks that I’m doing this wrong! 

To give you a bit of background, Mr. Houseful (Shomari D. as I like to call him in person) and I met 20 years ago. Yes. TWO DECADES. I was new to our church, and was really, really standoffish. I was in the midst of my eighth grade year, and I hated all of the boys in my class even if I had a crush on one or two a couple of years beforehand. 

I remember my mother wanting to attend the church that had been right on the same block as ours, out of the blue. We were just transferring from another church, and hadn’t been in a while. I was super excited because THIS church had kids that I wasn’t related to! I was going to have so much fun. We attended for several Sundays, and I always noticed this really skinny guy staring at me. We would sit in the balcony, and he would always make his way around to a door so he could have a view of where I was sitting. I was enamored, but careful, mostly because I didn’t want to assume that someone was interested in me and they weren’t. Talk about egg on the face if that happened. 

Long story short, Mr. Houseful asked me to be his girl on April 10, 1994 and we had our first kiss (my first kiss EVER) on May 1st of that same year. It was hilarious now that I think about it. I had parents who were pretty set on me not “dating” at 13, and he was the son of a preacher. We were all types of wrong for the set up. But it was sweet, and thinking about it to this day gives me butterflies in my stomach. 

I remember it was a Sunday night and he walked me home (all of half a block) after we had just gotten through with our churches annual Puritan Day. Talk about other side of the spectrum. We sat and talked on the porch for a while, and HE LEANED IN! I didn’t know what to do, but let him. After the kiss, I jokingly said “Hey, is that your dad walking down the street?” and Mr. Houseful went into a duck and cover situation. My laughter was not for long because a little after that, I thought my parents were driving back up our street, and did some maneuvers of my own. I can laugh about it NOW and freely tell this story because, hey, I’m married to the guy.

The scene was perfect in every other way. Spring temperatures, night time, standing on the steps of my apartment. Teenage hormones just a ragin’. What’s not to love about that. There was no groping, or ridiculous amounts of – you know. From that point on, I couldn’t stop thinking about this great guy that I had found who was genuinely interested in ME! To think, that decades later (oy) he still has the hots for me is nothing short of a miracle. I think that our marriage is so awesome because of things built on the foundation of things like that. Did we have our teenage issues, um, yeah, but we came around. Were we goofy? Of course we were. Did we make grown up decisions without having ANY idea what could happen? *looks at the cellist* We’re one of the exceptions, but I would love to see more relationships like ours become the rule. Not the pregnant and parents before you’re ready portion of it, but the INNOCENCE. The having fun with your boyfriend or girlfriend. The getting out in the city and being able to do things without having to fear for you life, literally. I mean, sometimes we were afraid that my dad and mom would make one of their appearances, but I shall be afraid NO MORE! 

Since the cellist isn’t enamored with anyone at the moment, I can honestly say that I’m not sure how I would feel about him coming home to tell me that he has had his first kiss. I’ve asked him about it, and he says he hasn’t. There isn’t anyone that he’s met that he wants to kiss right now. I can’t say if I’m happy or sad about that. There’s something about experiencing those little bits of childhood innocence that makes me smile, but then again, we were living in a different world back then. 

Twenty years ago. It’s amazing how much things change that they seemingly stay the same. Kids are still stealing kisses, parents are still fussing about their sons not running up behind some fast tail girl, and their daughters not letting some mannish boy mess them up.  I was just one of the lucky girls who found their match super early in life. I’m hoping that my children will be able to look back on their first kiss with fondness. I’m not saying that ours was the best kiss, but it was pure and it was what childhood is supposed to be. 

Innocent. 

Now, whether or not my dad agrees is a different story.