Countdown to the kiss: what does it reveal?

photo by sarizzzzzle

When I was in the second grade, I asked my parents why they never kissed, especially before my dad went off to work.  At that age, I thought all husbands should have a normal routine of kissing their wives at least once a day.

Apparently, my mother got a tickle from my question so she placed the idea on  the dinner table next to the Beef Stroganoff. My father, being a man of no bedside manner at home, had no comment. But the next day, before he left to make his evening rounds, my mom escorted him to the front door. I was left perched on top of the stairs, peering through the balustrade, and witnessed what I believed was their sixth kiss of all time! They seemed awkward: trying to figure out who should lean forward, who should tilt their head a bit left or right.

Of course their routine lasted less than a week, which if I had known what foreshadowing meant in the second grade, it would have spared me a handful of  revisiting-your-childhood sessions in therapy.

Fast forward to present day relationship with my partner, Craig. And I was wondering? Do we have a routine? Is it bad to have one? Should we have a routine and then mix it up with spontaneous kisses–yes, yes! I like this.

There are soooo many types of kisses, but my ultimate real-life favorite kisses I like to give and receive include:

•  the 3-seconds kiss planted softly at the top of the forehead
• The Anticipator (consists of a double kiss) one full on the lips and a softer one off centered and lingering
• 0h, and I absolutely adore the one second kisses in the middle of the night when he thinks I’m asleep. He’ll kiss me on the my check, after brushing my hair away from my face, accompanied with a whisper, “I love you so much.”

And then there are the movie kisses. Don’t get me wrong, we get to rehearse a lot of these types, too. The movie kisses are the ones I call the countdown kisses. Five, ten, twenty second kisses or longer. I hope no couple has forgotten these, but just in case, you can be inspired with the video. If I were in the second grade, and YouTube existed, you know what I’d make my parents watch during dinner, right?