No matter how many times we have kissed another person, we always remember our first kiss. That first time when your lips touched the lips of another person. That one moment when you experienced a kiss for the very first time.

My first kiss was when I was twelve years old. It was July of 1984 and I was in Camp Vacamas in West Milford, New Jersey. We had a social dance one night and on that afternoon, I met a girl named Patricia Regan. After talking for a minute or two, I mustered up enough courage to ask Patricia to come with me to the dance – she not only said yes – she sealed the deal with my first ever kiss on the lips.

After she kissed me and walked away, I stood there for a moment and tried to let what just happen sink in. I then walked to my bunk still not believing that a girl just kissed me – and when I got inside – I leapt into the air as high as I could. My friend John even commented on how high I jumped. I told him that the reason for my excitement was because I just got my very first kiss.

Patricia and I had a great time at the dance, saw more of each other during that three-week stint at Camp Vacamas – and even wrote each other letters for a while after camp was over. After that Summer, we lost contact and I never heard from her again.

Do you remember your first kiss? Most people don’t, but to me – getting kissed for the very first time was one of those defining moments of growing up. Like driving a car for the first time, or writing your first check – or getting your first paycheck – getting your first kiss is the beginning of something, because before that moment, you had never been kissed before, and now – your days of kissing have only just begun.

It has been seventeen years and thousands of kisses since Patricia Regan kissed me in 1984. But no matter how many times a pair of lips touches mine, I will always remember Patricia Regan for the fact that her lips were the first – and she was the first girl that ever wanted to kiss me.

Thanks Patricia – wherever you are.