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You must remember this, kissing is more than just for lips. For both men and women, a kiss is a beautiful and intimate connection in romantic relationships.
Do you remember your first real kiss? I do. I had kissed others before, made out with others is probably a better way to put it, but this was my first kiss. The first time I felt the anticipation for hours, felt myself falling in love with him as we watched Chariots of Fire in the theater with the swells of the soundtrack almost too much to bear, the visceral tingle of sitting next to him, the feel of his strong hand in mine, the smell of him next to me. And then after, when I pulled my mother’s beat up Dodge Dart to his house, and I stared forward, I trembled, wondering what he’d do. And I waited. He whispered, but with strength, “Can I steal a kiss?” “You don’t have to steal it,” I said, and he held my face in his hands and his lips met mine and it was the most intimate, most sensual, most incredible kiss ever. I was sixteen. And I can still see it in my mind, and I can still feel it in my heart.

Kissing is, I believe, one of the most important displays of affection in a romantic relationship; the ultimate in closeness. You may be thinking, um, there is something else a little closer: sex. Sexual intimacy, when two people are together, body, mind, and soul connected in the ultimate of ways. I think intercourse is great. When you’re in a romantic relationship, that closeness is beyond compare. It brings two people together in a way nothing else can. But it all starts with a kiss, and it’s not the same without kissing. It’s sex without the personal, intimate, I want to look in your eyes, I want more than your body, I want your soft cheek cupped in my hand or the feel of your unshaven chin scratchy against mine.
Kissing is not only intimate, but it is highly personal. In the movie Pretty Woman, both parties initially make an agreement, they will have sex all week, escort here, there, and everywhere, but no kissing on the mouth. It’s too personal and romantic. And when the plot shifts and they fall in love, they kiss. And when they kiss, everything changes. Yes, I’m referencing a Hollywood movie about a prostitute gone clean, but the point is, they nailed it on the kissing. It’s personal. Kissing is more personal than sex. And in this case, Hollywood has a point. I’m a little more discerning about who I sleep with than any old Richard Gere in an Armani suit, and I don’t tend to have sex with anyone I wouldn’t also want to kiss, but I think you get the point.