Kiss me, You fool

This is an extension of several tweets I made the other day. I wanted to expand on this and push it out there. I have another call to arms for you people out there, but it will come at a later date. This… is about a beautiful kiss, but starts with an ‘orrible slobber.

So.. we begin with Archie. Archie is a stocky little West highland Terrier and I was out walking him yesterday all as part of dog-sitting duties. It was a thick, muggy day and even though it smelled like rain, none was coming anytime soon so we took a stroll. There’s a little ‘place’ just outside of Ipswich called Needham Market. It’s too big to be a village, too small to be a town and it houses a pretty little lake which is a favourite for walkers, dog-walkers, duck-feeders, courting couples, families, hopeful BBQers alike. It is a nice, quiet picturesque little place. Archie gets walked around it every day, not always the same route – he likes to mix it up a bit. In fact, whenever we get to a natural ‘junction’ I let him pick his own way. We’ve so far never taken the same route twice.

I was walking around, taking some random photos with the phone, just enjoying the chance to be calm for once, when I saw a young couple sat on a bench. They were laughing, smiling, holding hands – I quickly got the impression that this was a relationship in it’s infancy and it warmed me a little at the memory of that feeling, the excitement and nervousness in equal measures – such a thrill! They were about to kiss as Archie decided he wanted to walk this way and so my couple were lost from my sight.

That’s what got me to thinking… It has been so very long since I kissed someone like that. I’m not just talking about a first kiss, but those early kisses when you do it for the enjoyment of it, not for a perfunctory gesture  of arrival and departure. I am also not talking about random meetings of lips like dares, drunken embraces and the like. I mean those kisses where you really want to kiss that person.

There is something amazing about kissing someone new for the first time. In some ways it can be even better than sex – all those new sensations, adaptations, feelings and tastes. Remember those tentative pecks? Those little nudges of lips, almost like gentle taps at the door, which then lead to the first close contact when mouths gently press against each other like two old buildings leaning up against each other – take either one away and they both fall, ruined.

Then maybe a few tentative flicks of the tongue, a time of teasing and exploration. Do they like this? How do they react to that? What is this cute little thing they are doing to me?! No two people kiss the same, you can not even kiss a different person the same way yourself. It is all about adaptation and evolution – and when done right is one of the most honest and humble acts any couple can share. You are openly doing this as much for their  pleasure as for your own.

All this is why these moments are sublime and magical. I complained recently that my life was missing some magic, some air of the fantastic – I now realise this may be one of the things I was talking about. All you want to do at that moment is lose yourself in the lips of that other person, to trap yourself in an endless bubble of that warmth and passionate tenderness and the whole outside world can just fuck off.

I marvel at how such small, seemingly insignificant things like kisses can be so wonderful… so important.

So the point to all this romantical gibbering? Well, if you are with someone, do this for me: KISS THEM. And when I say kiss them, I mean kiss them like you MEAN IT. Pull them close to you, hold their face in your hands, look into their eyes and kiss them like it was that first time all over again x