Quite The Kick

Bryce had asked when our first kiss was. Beatrice, who's exercising her teenage sarcasm and sass muscles, asked when our first "kick" was. 

"Ha, ha," I said.

"Wasn't it when we took that first walk along the water?" my wife Amy asked. 

"No," I said. "It was when I fixed you dinner for the first time. Technically our second date."

Our daughters both wanted to know the story, so we told them.

After Amy and I first me one day at the beach in 1997, I had asked Amy to go on a walk at dusk the next week. We brought flashlights and walked along the water and talked and talked. We sat on one of the benches along the water and talked and talked. Then I walked her back to her apartment.

But we didn't kiss then. After our walk, I asked her out for a dinner date. Me fixing her dinner at my apartment was the idea, which was in the building adjacent to mine. She said yes. I told I was thinking of fixing some pasta, salad, garlic bread, and some wine. She said great. 

At the time I had only been living on my own again as a bachelor for a few months (another story for another time), and so, I didn't have a lot of food at my place. I also commuted to work every day to San Jose, and the drives could be grueling. There was a lot of eating out. 

The dinner date night came quick, and I did not plan ahead. Amy came over for the date and I asked her if she'd like to go to the store with me. She said sure and we went. 

I gathered the ingredients I needed to fix dinner, but there was also one more important thing I didn't have at my apartment: toilet paper. She didn't know that, but would know that when she used my bathroom and there was none. 

Amy didn't care that I needed to get toilet paper. Was happy that I was buying toilet paper, of course. That might've been a love killer if I didn't have any. We brought everything back, I fixed the dinner, we ate, we talked, we laughed, and we kissed. And I then I fell deeply in love. 

Nearly 25 years later, I'm still deeply in love, and when they asked, we told our daughters this story of when we first kissed. Beyond the "yucks" they did think it was sweet. We've always been comfortable showing affectionate around them, kissing and hugging and saying "I love you," because we want them to see that we love and care for one another. 

Still, Mom and Dad intimacy may creep them out sometimes, especially during their coming teenage years, but modeling heathy emotional and physical intimacy is key as their early relationships blossom. Telling our kids no, don't like anyone, don't have any crushes or fall in love, don't kiss or hug, isn't an option. It will happen. Probably more than once. And we want to be a part of those experiences and give them the support they need on the rollercoasters to come. 

Beatrice being sassy and asking about our first "kick" definitely hit the mark, because that first kiss was quite the kick.