Kissing is a funny thing… so nice and yet sometimes so annoying. I cannot abide the prolonged kiss (especially when it’s the people queuing in front of me in a cinema) nor any which seems to assert ownership. But I do like the affectionate, the playful and the spontaneous kiss. We need more of those.

I have kissed relatively few people in my life, and have spent enormous slabs of time not kissing anyone at all, which is what of course leads me to embarrass myself wondering aloud about how I feel about it anyway (ie how much I miss it). Thinking about those kisses that I really remember, I realize there are only a few, and they all seem to have happened during my high school years.

So here’s what I recall of five memorable kisses, presented in chronological order (initials used to protect the innocent from turning up in a Google search)

1. CS, at a Blue Light Disco (ie chaperoned by local police), I was 12 or 13 I think, she was a year older. This kiss was a big deal, because of course it was my first "real" kiss, by which I mean it was a horrid clumsy open-mouthed pash with teeth banging together and all that (no tongue though). Also she was about a foot taller than me so I had to crane my neck somewhat. What I remember most about that night is coming home afterwards with a sore neck thinking "holy crap I finally pashed someone!"
2. AD, in the kitchen of a two storey terrace in Surry Hills. I was 16. This was a short soft kiss accompanied by a warm embrace– an affectionate moment that just kind of happened, and left me feeling a little embarrassed but still very nice. Embarrassed because I was at the time infatuated with her sister CD, who was not there, and who also was not available… Suffice to say that I would be lying if I said I didn’t find AD attractive, but I didn’t think it would have been such a great idea to pursue this further (plus I was and still am a chicken-shit). Writing this I now recall that we had spent the day together… it’s kind of odd really, we had an unusual relationship which just kept getting weirder.
3. CD, on the living room floor of a friends house after a New Year’s Eve party. This was one of those moments you spend so long waiting for that you can’t believe when it finally happens. I had been chasing her for almost two years, and this was such a big moment that I totally missed the details (mostly I was numb with surprise shock etc) but it must in retrospect have also been one of my seediest kisses ever, since we had both been drinking and smoking the night before and were neither of us fully awake when the momentous thing finally happened. Still, it was great!
4. CB (best friend to CD), at her house in the middle of town. This was supposed to be just a friendly kiss, with decidedly closed mouth and exaggerated puckering, but since she had just stepped out of the shower her skin was unbelievably soft and her lips like… pillows? They were damn soft and warm anyway. This reminds me that there was some weird rumour at the time that the three of us were getting it on together, and to be honest at moments like this it didn’t sound like such a terrible idea.
5. CD again, on the verandah of her family home in a quiet valley 20 minutes out of town. We had already been together for some time, but this spontaneous burst of light kisses left us both grinning like idiots, making me realize that a kiss can and should be pleasurable and fun, not just automatic. Also marked the beginning of the end for my interest in the pash* since that never delivered the same amount of pleasure.

There have of course been many other pleasurable moments, but these are the ones that stand out in my memory right now. I’m guessing this is not unusual, since the teenage years are a rather emotional time and such moments will tend to imprint much more strongly then.

* The thing I really grew to dislike about the pash is that it prevents one from talking– and of course I find that infuriating! It’s not so much "Shut up and kiss me" as "Maybe a kiss will shut you up"