Why I Waited Till My Wedding Day To Have My First Kiss

I've only been kissed by two guys in my life: Micah when I was four, and John when I was twenty-nine.  The kiss with Micah was our first and last.  I have no idea how many times John and I have kissed, but it is a lot.  You probably realize that that first kiss didn't count, and if you are good at math, you also realize that I went another twenty-five years without kissing anyone. 

Why?

I'll tell you.

It all happened when I was sixteen.  I was walking toward the tennis courts at school, thinking about how incredible it was that I was sixteen and had never had a real kiss.  I decided I wanted a picture of my first kiss to show my kids someday.  I tried to figure out how and realized that if I waited till my wedding day to kiss, I would have a photo of my first kiss.  At first I didn't want to do that, but after a moment of thought, I decided I would.  I realized it was worth it to me.  If someone would have told me then that I wouldn't be getting married till twenty-nine, I would have changed my mind.  I'm glad I didn't know.  Waiting was a lot easier than I would have thought back then.

People used to tell me I was crazy for "saving my first kiss."  They told me I wouldn't have enough self-control and that no guy would go for that.  I remember the first week that John and I were dating.  I was in the drugstore parking lot when it hit me.  I was dating one of the only attractive men on earth who was almost twenty-eight and had not yet kissed anyone.  While John wanted to kiss, he had the self-control and willingness to honor my request.  He loved me deeply.  If I had listened to all those people who told me I was a fool for waiting, I would have been kicking myself in that drugstore parking lot.

 When John and I started dating, we had known each other for nearly two years and already knew we wanted to marry each other.  Because we had spent time developing a platonic friendship for so long, neither of us was willing to break each other's hearts.  We wanted to be confident in our decision before we took things to a level beyond friendship.  

Waiting paid off.  Waiting built maturity and gave me time to figure out who I was before committing myself to someone else.  Waiting allowed me to share precious first memories with the man I happily see every day.  They became a gift that I gave to him, a way to show him that he was special, worth waiting for.  They showed my ability to be serious about love, showed that I had what it took to be faithful.  It also helped me to realize that I only wanted to share my life with someone worthy of what I had to offer.  It helped me to choose my husband wisely, something experts say is the number one key to a successful marriage.

Not everyone chooses to make the sacrifices that I made in order to have not only that special photograph, but that special relationship.  A good friend commented the other day on my marriage with John.  He noticed how deeply John loved me and said that we had a rare relationship, one that few people get to enjoy.  I smiled and realized how lucky I am.  

Someone once said that if you wait for the best, you'll probably get it.  Those words brought me comfort when I was single with no end to singleness in sight.  One day, all of a sudden everything changed.  John and I met for coffee after awhile of not seeing each other, and I felt things for him that I had never felt before.  I allowed those feelings to grow and blossom.  A couple weeks later, I told him how I felt.  A few weeks after that, we both knew who we were going to marry.  

And I finally had my first real kiss.