THE ART OF KISSING

(I wrote this speech on the evening of Valentines, & gave it to an audience of Toastmasters for a speech contest two days later = I was the test speaker for the evaluation contest...& did receive glowing evaluations, no kisses though)

THE ART OF KISSING

(sings) "What's in a kiss? Have you ever wondered just what it is? More perhaps than just a moment of bliss. Tell me what's in a kiss?"

In this day & age of meaningless sex, & an endless parade of one-night stands, with the sexual revolution won, we hanker back to the utter simplicity & sweet poignancy, of ...the kiss.

Perhaps because I didn't get to kiss anyone this Valentines... So let me indulge in this fantasy, a very tame one at that. Yup, that's what girls(& women!) sometimes dream about....kissing! Unlike men, who dream about so much more. So let's go back to the basics, & talk about...kissing!

What is kissing after all? It is more than just two lips meeting each other halfway. No! A kiss, holds such magnitude & power. One simple kiss can take away all hurts, such as when a mother kisses her child's scraped knees. One kiss can spark the beginning of a beautiful love story, for a man & a woman, out on their first date, a question in the eyes..."Is he or isn't he going to kiss me?". Oh, the thrill & anticipation of waiting for that first kiss!

Do you remember Drew Barrymore in the movie,"50 First Dates", saying "Nothing beats a first kiss". Like Sleeping Beauty awakened by a kiss, each girl, each woman, each time, finds perhaps that she has been asleep all along, waiting for life to start. & with one passionate kiss, all her emotions & desires are aroused. With one kiss, begins a future of limitless possibilities.

Even in an institution as conservative & as timid as the Church, I find it a bit hilarious, that the wedding ceremony ends, with that old santimonious priest, who really doesn't know anything about life's baser instincts, saying that much anticipated, familiar line: "You may now kiss the bride". Isn't it appropriate that a lifetime of forever begins with that first wedding kiss? What fitting way to bind a lifelong commitment, than to seal it...with a kiss?

We even see the enormity of a kiss, for even in history, the greatest person who ever lived, Jesus, even he was betrayed by Judas, his friend, with a kiss! Yes, truly nothing stings as much, or is a heartbreakingly felt, in any romantic relationship gone stale, as the lackluster quality, of a prefunctory, obligatory kiss.

I was all of 18 when I received my first kiss. & to think it took my first boyfriend, 3 months of going steady, before he finally kissed me! But it was definitely worth the wait! I could share with you all the juicy details...but then...I don't kiss and tell.

I learned the art of kissing, not from fumbling boys nor from dashing,skilled gentlemen,but from a more mundane sort..from books! Yup, I believe all women, at one time or another,but most probably in high school, had spent many an afternoon poring over Mills & Boon,Silhouette or Sweet Valley High romances. Now learning the art of kissing from romance pocketbooks is not as miserable as it sounds. You can learn a lot, why the kissing part is some romance novels sometimes lasts up to 2 pages! Imagine! Why, I hear, for most men, making love doesn't even last for 2 minutes!

So my advice, for you men out there, is that you should do more reading! But since I know most men are not too fond of reading, my advice is...the next time you're in a bar, order a vodka, & practice your kissing skills the old-fashioned way, by learning to tie a cherry stem into a knot, using your tongue!

Of course, for most women, this saying is most often true. "Before you find your handsome Prince, be prepared to kiss a lot of frogs". I can still count the number of boys, & men I've kissed, on the fingers of one hand...(counts/ticks of each finger)..ok,two hands. See, just a lucky seven! So in my humble opinion, & that of my girlfriends, is that a lot of men don't know how to kiss.

On one hand, you have the date, who's too much of a gentleman, & asks for a kiss at the end of the date. How unromantic! A real man should know when a woman wants to be kissed! So don't ask, only fools ask for permission.
Neither does this mean that men should be aggressive. Sweeping a woman off her feet doesn't mean acting like a caveman & grabbing for her lips. A real man, who knows how to kiss a woman for the very first time, should know this: You go 90% of the distance: stop. & let her meet you for the 10% left, which she will if she wants to be kissed!

The perfect kiss...is slooow...explorative....and real. And as Toastmasters who love to talk, you should all find this very amusing...there should be a conversation within a kiss! Such as...I like you, do you like me! Oh yes,definitely yes..More?..more!...Oh yes!

And,for a kiss to be lip-smacking good, you want it to mean something. You want it to be with someone you can't get out of your head, so that when your lips do finally touch, you feel it everywhere. Not just on your lips but all the way down to your toes...A kiss so right, it makes you lift up your foot, & let's you see fireworks, even with your eyes closed. A kiss, so hot, & so deep..you never want to come up for air. You can't cheat your first kiss. Trust me you don't want to. Coz when you find the perfect person,for that first kiss, its everything.

So how about you? Do remember your first kiss with the one you love?

(sings: from the Disney movie "Enchanted") "I've been dreaming of a true love's kiss, & a prince I'm hoping comes with this. So for a lifetime of endless bliss, just find who you love, through true love's kiss".