I Miss Kissing

A Simple Favor / Kiss Scene (Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick)

I miss kissing. Spontaneous kissing. Polite kissing. Tentative kissing. Hand kissing. Passionate kissing. Kissing both women and men, all over, tasting and teasing them. Lips to lips or lips to wherever. Soft, wet, warm, gentle, hard, and with generous tongues. 

Of all the things I miss during this pandemic, I miss the joy of kissing.

The days go on. I walk in the early morning or ride my bike. I teach my classes. I tutor my teen girls. I go to the market. I cook meals. I watch the news (ugh) and, thankfully, some fairly decent films on my streaming services. I sleep. I pad around my casita mostly naked or play dress up in clothes I haven't worn in what seems like years. Throughout the day, before, during, and after all these activities, I miss kissing.

Don't get me wrong, I do kiss still, occasionally. Jeep Girl, sometimes. My friends with benefits, sometimes, but that was last month and, before that, July.

Here is what gets me. I used to kiss a whole lot more. I needed very little reason to kiss, often and unpredictably. I got a kick out of giving unexpected lip to lip kisses -- the looks on people's faces! I think of the times when, for whatever reason, just making out for an evening could be just as much fun as "going all the way."

No more. I'm careful. Respectful. Socially distanced.

This fall I need to figure out how to spend more time with friends, with or without benefits, and lovers who are in my extended shelter-at-home bubble and kiss them often, repeatedly, lovingly.