First Kisses

There are about a million possible things that can go wrong in a first kiss.

first kiss lovers

An excerpt from “First Kisses,” April 7, 2024

There are about a million possible things that can go wrong in a first kiss.

There may be more for you personally, but I have been taking my own inventory and one million and five looks like my magic number.

There are, of course, big things that can go horribly wrong: red starburst, dirt showering land mines exploding beneath you, things that get you running for the door seconds in, but most of the things that go wrong are tiny, teeny-weeny, teensy little things that barely register. They’re just soft blips over the vast minefield of our thoughts, blinking as harmlessly as fireflies.

But if you had to watch all the first kisses of your entire life replayed on videotape then you’d really start to notice the problems piling up. Maybe you have a better reel than I do, but without the soft head rush of a good kiss to mask the problems, the issues really start to jump out at you, and if you had the misfortune of watching your first kiss reel in the company of your funnier, more obnoxious friends, let’s say good and wound up after an NFC Championship Game, your highlight reel would become a laugh-or-cry torture.

I don’t need to tell you that that first move towards her, especially when the stakes are high, is catching a fish with bare hands, the moment can be too early or too late or totally missed completely, one big long walk home saying…

The full essay here:

Maple Drive: First Kisses