First Kiss

The first time you get kissed by a boy is one of those private milestones, an event that is usually remembered with fondness for its charm and wonder and surprise. 

Uusually it just happens.  But some girls may contrive it to take place; they too have their experiences, and, hopefully, it's good.

I remember mine.  I was not quite a teen; and I had been riding my bike aimlessly on the levee when I met a boy from my class also riding his.  His name was Jimmy.  We sat and talked a while, enjoying each others' company and temporarily being away from the world of adults.

Jimmy inched closer to me, and kissed me on my mouth.  It was not a long kiss, but a real kiss nevertheless.  He had such adorably blue eyes!

My reaction was to kiss him back,l and I did.  Later on, in psychology, I learned that's called "positive reinforcement." 

From my perspective, it was a sweet, memorable experience without some of the usual first kiss baggage:
 
(a)  Does my breath smell okay?
(b)  Will we get caught?
(c)  Will he try to touch my breasts, and should I let him?
(d)  If we kiss longer than 20 seconds, is it a sin?
(e)  Suppose he tries to French me?  Should I let him?

Jimmy and I met semi-regularly, and just necked a little when it was time to depart.  That's all.

Within a few years, his family and him left town, and Jimmy and I lost touch.  I wish I could have given it a more storybook-type ending.

Sometimes first kisses (or subsequent ones) don't turn out so well when adults get into the act.  Here's a story about the outcome of a kiss at a summer camp that went so totally haywire.  It seems that a 15-year-old girl kissed a boy, and she was expelled from the summer camp for having done so!  The article does not say whether the boy was also expelled or not.  Somehow, being escorted to the gate by a policeman in uniform, and being picked up by the parents would be very likely to defeat self-esteem and generate a lot of nightmares.

I'll bet the whole tableau gave the other campers something to talk about for weeks.  Maybe it's like what Voltaire said when the British executed an admiral for losing, "In this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others."  (Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.)

Yes, that's it.  They used her as an example to other campers.