A Kiss Happened

I had my first kiss when I was a few months away from turning seventeen. It's been nine years, but it happened just yesterday!

I met this guy at a church camp/retreat both our churches required all juniors to go to to get Confirmed. Our group comprised around 30 kids, give or take - about ten from my school and 20 from a neighboring city nearby. Many of us have known each other over the years.

This guy and I were paired up on the second day of the retreat to do an activity together. I knew who he was and a little about him (he'd been dating a mutual friend of mine and my sister's, but they had recently broken up), but we'd never talked. I was nervous about doing this activity because it was awkward, and I didn't want to embarrass myself, and my partner could tell. He went out of his way to make me feel more comfortable with it by cracking jokes and making me smile and laugh. We had so much fun together. It felt like time had just stopped, and no one was there but the two of us. I felt butterflies. Not only was he smart and funny and oh-so-handsome, but he was the biggest sweetheart I'd ever met. I fell in love on the spot.

But our special moment together only lasted so long, and before I knew it, the activity was over. Trance broken. Connection gone. We never got to talk again after that. I left the retreat feeling heartbroken - I'd just met this fantastic guy who had made me feel like the only girl in the world, and he slipped through my fingers.

Then, a few weeks later, my school played basketball. I had no idea he was on the team. When I walked into the gym, my eyes found him immediately, as they'd somehow known he was there before my brain did, and I couldn't stop staring at him the whole night. He was sexy as a masculine-tough guy-athlete and all, but it made me smile knowing I'd met the real him at that stupid church camp a month prior.

Still, I didn't have the guts to talk to him. I was afraid he didn't feel the same way I did about him and didn't want to make a fool of myself. So I decided not to say or do anything.

After the game, I had to make a pit stop in the girl's locker room before heading home because I'd left something during gym class that morning. As I was walking down the hallway to get there, he and a bunch of his teammates walked out of their locker room, and I froze. I didn't know what to do. But then, the most unexpected thing happened.

He saw me and didn't give me a weird look even though I was staring at him like a total freak. Instead, his face lit up with this beautiful grin, and he told his friends he would meet up with them in a minute. They agreed and walked away, and then he turned to me and asked, almost like he was nervous too, if I remembered him from church camp a month before. I said I did, and suddenly, we were having a conversation. Not an awkward forced one, but a real one. It flowed so well; we never ran out of things to say, we finished each other's sentences, and we completely lost track of time. Before I knew it, his best friend returned and said the bus had been waiting for him to get on for ten minutes. We were both a little embarrassed, but he told his best friend he'd be there.

I didn't want the night to end - I was afraid he was slipping through my fingers again - but I was still scared he didn't like me as anything more than a friend. So I told him it was lovely to see and talk to him again, and I said goodbye. And then I started to walk away.

A few seconds later, he called out my name, and I turned back to see him jogging toward me. He dropped his bag on the ground, gently placed his hands around my neck, and then pressed our faces together. I'd never been so close to a guy or touched so intimately by one, and I felt like I was dreaming.

Then, he laughed and whispered, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since that damn retreat ended." I whispered back, "me neither." he smiled and continued, saying, "I'm glad because I've cursed myself every day since for letting you get away without doing this, and I won't make the same mistake again."

And then he kissed me, and I can't even explain how magical it was. It was soft but passionate at the same time. His lips and hands gently caressed me and made me feel loved and cared for. I had butterflies in my stomach, and there were fireworks everywhere. It was so sweet and romantic, and I felt like floating. The whole thing was just indescribable, but it was perfect.

It's been almost ten years since then, and his kisses and touches still make me feel the same way. We've been married for six years and have five incredible children - a seven-year-old daughter, a five-year-old son, twin boys, three, and a baby girl who is ten months old - and we couldn't be happier. He is the most fantastic husband and father I could have ever asked for, and I love him more than anything. I'm so glad he's the one I got to share my first kiss.