Dec 9, 2011  •  In Entertainment, Personal, Relationships

The First Kiss

I always have a television show on queue to watch whenever I get some downtime and need to zone out, or when I am having trouble falling asleep.

And these days, that show has been The Wonder Years.


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(Never watched The Wonder Years? Go do it now. It’s on Netflix streaming!)

I have watched and enjoyed the entire series when it first aired between 1988-1993, and re-watching it now, twenty-or-so years later, I still love it the same for its nostalgia, sentimentality, humor, and ageless themes of love, friendships, and family.

I have rooted for Kevin and Winnie as a couple since I watched my very first episode, and remember being sorely disappointed to discover that, on the very last episode, they ultimately do not end up together. 🙁

But nevermind that. Because their relationship is one that spans the entire six seasons of this classic drama. It is one that started as childhood sweethearts — one that you can’t help but want to see work for its feel-good values.


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It is one that started with a first kiss at the age of 12, which seems to be about the average age at which most of my friends experienced their first kisses too. An age when holding hands in the hallways at school was the most that couples did, and even the mere mention of going past “first base” would be met with astonishment.

(Yes, I know that things are different now, that many kids are already having sex at the age of 12. But bear with me here as I take a trip down nostalgia lane…)

However, I am saddened to say that this wasn’t the case with me.

My first kiss was not until the age of 17. With a boy who charmed me probably just to get in a make-out session, who cut off contact with me not soon after.

(But I have to admit that he was damn cute. 😉  A young boy whom I had met at the mall where I worked, he looked like the Filipino version of a young Robert Downey Jr.)

And because my first kiss arrived so late, at an age when many of my friends had progressed way past the kissing-only stage while some had even lost their virginities —

At an age when even an ounce of child-like innocence was long gone —

I am sorry to say that I never experienced this puppy love phase. This “Kevin and Winnie” phase.

Sometimes I look back and become sad that I never did. I almost feel like I missed out on an integral phase of childhood/early teenage years.

But at the same time, I am glad that I didn’t have a relationship to distract me from my overly ambitious studies and extracurricular activities, because otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have been able to have gone to a good school.

How about you? When was your first kiss? Did you have a childhood sweetheart?

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14 Responses to “The First Kiss”

  1. Kimberly Kowalski says:

    My first kiss wasn’t until college at the age of 18. I also felt like I missed out a bit during jr high and high school for not having that youthful romance, but seeing how everything has turned out now with my amazing Husband I’m happy. I’m a total sucker for every one of those tv shows that shows young love though haha. Little more recent show with some Savage in it… Boy Meets World, granted the show got a little awful towards the last season but I LOVED Topanga and Corey.

  2. Brooke says:

    I got my first kiss at 17 too! I remember it vividly, but not for the kissing part. It was July 20, 2003 midnight, at my friend’s inn. I’d talked my boyfriend into picking me up and taking me to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which wasn’t nearly as crowded as stores got later in the series. Anyway, he dropped me back off, and I got my first kiss (French, too, ooh lala!) Then of course he RUINED it by trying to give me a “compliment” and swearing that couldn’t be my first kiss and I was lying. Thanks? Really I was just pissed that he ruined the moment, then sent him on his way so I could read my book.

    I waited around for my first kiss, mostly because of the whole True Love Waits movement that got really popular at my church during that time. They used to make a construction paper heart, and tear it in to pieces and say things like “Every time you date somebody, you’re giving a piece of your heart away that you can never get back. Then when you get married all your spouse gets is a sad ruin of a heart. SO DON’T DATE OR KISS OR HAVE SEX EVER OR YOU WILL DIE!!!” was basically the message there. Glad I grew out of that.

  3. MrsW says:

    Hah, I’m thinking I might win oldest on this one, and also reveal myself as a total dork: my first kiss was at the altar, with my husband, and I was almost 22. He was also my first boyfriend at the age of 18. I had a major unrequited crush on one guy from the age of 11-17, but he was one of probably 3 or 4 guys in my group and was never interested in me, and neither was anyone else. I was convinced that “don’t date me” was stamped in invisible ink on my forehead until I got to college and my husband asked me out for the first time before fall break. 🙂

  4. Di says:

    I was like Kimberly. 18 and in college. Since I grew up Mormon, you’re not supposed to date until you’re 16. Add to that my natural shyness and I kind of missed out on the puppy love. I’m actually really happy with how it turned out though. I feel like I was better able to handle relationships when I was older than the people I watched dating at 14 were.

  5. Autumn says:

    I also didn’t get my first kiss until 17….but it was with my high school sweetheart (we dated during senior year) who is now my husband. I feel like I got to have the best balance–I was slightly older and didn’t have that whole childhood puppy love, but it was still young love that blossomed into so much more. 🙂

    I also loved Topenga and Corey!!

  6. LatteLove says:

    E just found The Wonder Years on Netflix and has instisted we start from the beginning watching it together. I’m familiar with the show, but never watched an episode (I was an infant when it started!)

    Anyway, I was 17 for my first kiss too…which was rather innocent and unmemorable with a needy total loser (who wasn’t even cute!). We ‘dated’ for about a month and didn’t kiss until the day before we ‘broke up’
    But my first boyfriend after that was really the only one I consider my first kiss.

  7. My first kiss was at age 12. I still have fond memories, because the boy was nice. We didn’t go to the same school, so obviously we did not date for long (we talked on the phone a lot, though, even through high school he was a friend). I never had a serious relationship till college, when I met my husband. The rest is history.

    And. I too have been watching “The Wonder Years” on Netflix. Nostalgia!

  8. Oh my first kiss was incredibly late–21 if you’ll believe it! But it was definitely worth the wait. 🙂

  9. Nodakademic says:

    I did! I was 12 for my first kiss, after I “dated” my friend’s cousin for several months. haha. But shortly after that, I met another boy (on the school bus) who I actually dated for 4 or 5 years. We were very much childhood sweethearts. We grew apart by senior year, but rekindled the friendship and now we’re good friends–including our spouses and his children. 🙂

  10. Mifocals says:

    I was 16 when I had my first kiss. It was at Sadie Hawkins and my boyfriend (at the time) was totally sick with a cold. I remember it being pretty bad!

  11. Red Panda says:

    It may seem very sad but to me i’m very proud of the fact that i didn’t have my first kiss until i was 25! I’m 26 now and the man that received my first kiss is the one i plan to spend my life with 🙂 We have just moved into our first house together and i look forward to our many years together.

    That kiss was one i will always remember 🙂

  12. Meg says:

    I’m 18 and started uni in september and only just had my first kiss a week ago. I wont lie, it wasnt a special moment. I was drunk and I met the guy in a bar whilst on a night out with my mates after midnight. He started dancing around me and then with me and then enxt thing i know his tongue was down my throat and his hands were all over me. I know it sounds nasty but i did enjoy it. It wasnt forced or anything and he seemed to know what he was doing however i kinda wish i could have some romantic story about my first kiss to tell my kids one day but thats never gonna happen. I gave him my number but by the time i sobered up i never wanted to talk to him again never mind see him so ignored his calls/texts for the next week.

  13. Carol says:

    oh my gasshh this is such a cute post! heh… I totally remember being super boy crazy, especially over this one boy in elementary school and the Winnie & Kevin stage was all I could think about! It meant the world to just have them hold your hand! I was a little slutty and had my first kiss in the 6th grade, then my next “real” kiss was in 9th grade and he had braces — not fun. HAHA

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