I love kisses. I love to kiss, I love to be kissed. When there’s a kissing scene in a movie, I rewind it and watch it again. And again. And again. Not just the kiss. Nah, that’s boring. It’s the build up to the kiss. What is said? How do they look at each other? Ahhhhh. I relish in the yumminess of it all.

(I recently watched the kiss at the end of North and South about twenty times and I cried every. single. time. Who knew I was so GIRLY!? You can watch it too, here. Ahhhhh.)

When I was in high school, I wrote in a journal. I was always a journal keeper. One day, it occurred to me that I needed to make a kissing list. So no one ever got forgotten. And so on the back page of my journal, I began writing down names. With dates. A delicious list of my own First Kisses. The list included the boy’s name, the date of the first kiss, and a star if the kissing occurred on a second (or third, etc.) occasion. When I ran out of room on that page I had to move to the second-to-last page.

Somewhere in there, I became fast friends with my dear Kateastrophe, who also chose to keep a list in the back of her journal. Let it be known that Kate’s list is MUCH funnier and MUCH MUCH longer than mine. :-D

The other day, I was unpacking books and putting them on my bookshelf for, in some boxes’ case, the first time in 6 years. Lo and behold, out popped that old journal. Like a moth to a flame, I was wholly incapable of resisting a peek at the last two pages.

In my mind, I replay them, much like I replay a scene in a movie. That girl in my memory isn’t me. I really hardly know who she is. She’s such a stranger now. But I remember how she felt. I remember that moment before a first kiss. That moment when you know he’s going to kiss you, and you know you’re going to kiss him back. The chemistry, the magic, the sparks. I remember them all.

First kisses are amazing! So much tenderness, so much vulnerability. Sharing a moment of chemistry with someone is terrifying and thrilling all at once.

Now, don’t get me wrong. As I replay these moments, there’s no emotional attachment. There’s no pining for what could have been. No. I view it as any girl views a chick-flick. I don’t care about the boy, and I don’t honestly care much for that girl. But I have to watch it. I can’t look away.

I hung out with some pretty cool chicks during these years (among them are Kate, Laine, and Jewels). We thrived on not just on our own stories, but on hearing each other’s stories too. In our group of friends we had a secret code— you know, a way to communicate to each other that we had just been kissed, without having to say it in front of whoever else might be listening. In our case, our secret code was to twist a ring on our finger. When we’d catch each other twisting a ring, we would all smile our knowing smiles and hold our breath until we could huddle together and hear the WHOLE STORY.

(There were, of course, those funny moments where one of us would just mindlessly twist a ring on our finger and one of the girls would catch us and say, “WHAT??? WHO????” and we’d all laugh as we realized that it was just a harmless twist of the ring, signifying nothing!)

At the bottom of my list, there’s that one name and date. That one young man whose kiss changed my world forever. That man who I can still reach out and kiss today (and I do! As often as I can)! Ahhhhh, my Brian.

Do you know what else I love? I love blogposts about first kisses.

Kate and I, as you are probably aware, are the masterminds behind the Soap Opera Sunday game. We feel rather qualified to host S. O. S. since both of us have had our fair share of PG-rated soapiness (though, again, Kate has had WAY MORE! Hahahaha, how I love to tease her). Soap Opera Sunday suffered a tremendous set-back when… well… we stopped playing. haha. But it’s time to bring it back. This time, it’ll be bigger and better.

This time, we’re giving you a monthly theme.

We’ll keep the same theme for the whole month. You can post once or you can post every week. You can write a saga that takes all four Sundays, or you can write two distinct posts that both fit the theme. Or WHATEVER.

“But Brilly,” you say to me. “What if I had something ELSE I wanted to write? What if I was in the middle of a saga that I wanted to finish? What if I HATE your theme idea?” Calm yourself, Gentle Reader. You may still write on any topic of your choosing. The theme idea is just to get the mental juices flowing. It’s to get everyone excited about SOS again.

Can you guess what this month’s theme is?

That’s right, Gentle Readers. Our theme for August is “First Kiss.” You may interpret that however you want. Your first kiss ever? Your first kiss with your current sweety? A first kiss that never should have happened? Or any other idea (as long as it conforms to the Soap Opera Sunday rules, of course)! Bring ‘em on! I’ll put up the Mr. Linky on Saturday morning (this month I’ll be the host with the linkage—we’ll change hosts every month, just like we’ll change themes) and you can add your link any time from Saturday morning until Sunday evening. (Do keep in mind that the earlier you post and link up, the more people are going to read your post…)

Okay, then. Get writing!

(And remember that we have a site for ANONYMOUS Soap Opera Sundays, in case you’d rather not post your first kiss on a blog that your ex-boyfriend’s wife reads… Just email your submissions to me at brillig.the.great @ gmail dot com if you want yours to be posted there.)