Happy International Kissing Day!
I was inspired by Soosie's original post [@https://similarworlds.com/funny/funny-people/4388798-Happy-International-Kissing-Day] and decided to just make my own post.
In the original post you had three options:
1: say something nice about kissing (please keep it clean)
2: Tell us about the sweetest kiss that you ever had....
3: Pick some SW friend to send a kiss to..
I'm doing all three options and adding my own story because well I'm like that.
1. I love that kissing can be such a simple, sweet, friendly, or affectionate thing at times. It doesn't have to be an intense thing or an intimate, romantic gesture or a passionate thing or sexualized thing.
2. My first thought is to pick a recent moment because it's well recent. I visited a dying and dear childhood friend and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Because she's an angel and she's lovely and we love her and she's never ever a burden like she worries about. And because it's scary and it could be the last time I see her alive to do so. And...because it made her smile.
I have another story. It's not the sweetest but it was inspiring to me growing up that showing love is important and not something you lock away.
My Grandfather when I was growing up would give cheek (almost too close to the ear) kisses as he would hug any and all female relatives and close friends goodbye, and if he really missed you, you'd get one during a hello hug. I have a memory of being young and feeling surprised by it as we were leaving..like maybe we just hadn't visited in awhile and I'd forgotten that he did that or that idk...kisses were a thing, or maybe I wasn't sure he would kiss my cheek. Idk.
But I do remember it had been a peaceful if awkward feeling visit and I felt a little unsure about where we all stood with my grandparents, or maybe the quiet and the fact that the adults barely talked just felt weird. But that kiss on the cheek warmed my heart, because he did kiss...not slowly or fast but deliberately (Some years ago I found out he kissed our cheeks because his parents could be unloving. And grandpa wanted to make sure any family after him felt loved and were told we were loved, because we were (very much) loved by him.) As a kid, I knew when I looked in his eyes after the cheek kiss that my heart told me that he loved me, and wanted us all to be well and stay safe and come visit soon! And after we went out to the car, I ran back to hug my grandpa and insisted on kissing his cheek and repeating his farewell words of "Be safe" back to him! Every year or two that we'd go visit, I'd get that cheek kiss and it made me happy no matter the mood I was in. And that was a very sweet and precious thing to me even when I was an angry agnsty teenager who tried to not care. And when I was an adult, it still meant the world to me every time we'd visit and we'd all get a cheek kiss goodbye. Who we were as people, our faults and flaws didn't matter. He could become disappointed and want us to be our best selves and make good decisions for ourselves because he believed we could. But his love and supporting our happiness was never conditional or used as a manipulative tool. And I wanted to be just like Grandpa. Of course not every cheek kiss from grandpa felt that intense, sometimes I was in a good mood and it was just a normal sweet goodbye kiss to me, because I wasn't so hyper focussed on what was going on.
I'm told at some point as a young child I hugged and kissed my other grandpa on the cheek and made him cry in happiness and then gave him more kisses because he was crying .So yeah even simple sweet kisses on the cheek can do amazing things. And I just want to write about it or else it feels like it's something that will disappear.
Aw man, now I'm crying and happy and sad and feeling inspired at the same time.
3. Some friends might be ok with this. Some may not.
So here's a friendly and completely optional "happy to see you and I'm glad you are who you are." hug and (if you want)kiss on the cheek to friends everywhere.
In the original post you had three options:
1: say something nice about kissing (please keep it clean)
2: Tell us about the sweetest kiss that you ever had....
3: Pick some SW friend to send a kiss to..
I'm doing all three options and adding my own story because well I'm like that.
1. I love that kissing can be such a simple, sweet, friendly, or affectionate thing at times. It doesn't have to be an intense thing or an intimate, romantic gesture or a passionate thing or sexualized thing.
2. My first thought is to pick a recent moment because it's well recent. I visited a dying and dear childhood friend and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Because she's an angel and she's lovely and we love her and she's never ever a burden like she worries about. And because it's scary and it could be the last time I see her alive to do so. And...because it made her smile.
I have another story. It's not the sweetest but it was inspiring to me growing up that showing love is important and not something you lock away.
My Grandfather when I was growing up would give cheek (almost too close to the ear) kisses as he would hug any and all female relatives and close friends goodbye, and if he really missed you, you'd get one during a hello hug. I have a memory of being young and feeling surprised by it as we were leaving..like maybe we just hadn't visited in awhile and I'd forgotten that he did that or that idk...kisses were a thing, or maybe I wasn't sure he would kiss my cheek. Idk.
But I do remember it had been a peaceful if awkward feeling visit and I felt a little unsure about where we all stood with my grandparents, or maybe the quiet and the fact that the adults barely talked just felt weird. But that kiss on the cheek warmed my heart, because he did kiss...not slowly or fast but deliberately (Some years ago I found out he kissed our cheeks because his parents could be unloving. And grandpa wanted to make sure any family after him felt loved and were told we were loved, because we were (very much) loved by him.) As a kid, I knew when I looked in his eyes after the cheek kiss that my heart told me that he loved me, and wanted us all to be well and stay safe and come visit soon! And after we went out to the car, I ran back to hug my grandpa and insisted on kissing his cheek and repeating his farewell words of "Be safe" back to him! Every year or two that we'd go visit, I'd get that cheek kiss and it made me happy no matter the mood I was in. And that was a very sweet and precious thing to me even when I was an angry agnsty teenager who tried to not care. And when I was an adult, it still meant the world to me every time we'd visit and we'd all get a cheek kiss goodbye. Who we were as people, our faults and flaws didn't matter. He could become disappointed and want us to be our best selves and make good decisions for ourselves because he believed we could. But his love and supporting our happiness was never conditional or used as a manipulative tool. And I wanted to be just like Grandpa. Of course not every cheek kiss from grandpa felt that intense, sometimes I was in a good mood and it was just a normal sweet goodbye kiss to me, because I wasn't so hyper focussed on what was going on.
I'm told at some point as a young child I hugged and kissed my other grandpa on the cheek and made him cry in happiness and then gave him more kisses because he was crying .So yeah even simple sweet kisses on the cheek can do amazing things. And I just want to write about it or else it feels like it's something that will disappear.
Aw man, now I'm crying and happy and sad and feeling inspired at the same time.
3. Some friends might be ok with this. Some may not.
So here's a friendly and completely optional "happy to see you and I'm glad you are who you are." hug and (if you want)kiss on the cheek to friends everywhere.
