I've had a couple of kisses in my life which have been of genuinely profound significance to me. That first one wasn't one of those, but it's a sweet bit of memory.
I've been hesitant to tell the tale, because it's still embarrassing to remember, and admit, going for the Guiness World Record for years-before-first-kiss. I was more than just a little shy, awkward, and lacking in self-confidence. At 26, just out of the Navy, I had had just a few dates, one per girl, in my life. I went to school in Arkansas, to wrap up some unfinished college time. Got up the nerve to ask Nancy, a coed who served in the cafeteria, to an on-campus movie. can't remember for the life of me what we did on the second date, but we did end it by sitting in my car for a while, and I actually managed to kiss her. She was no classic beauty, but she was very bright, her personality appealed to me immensely, and there were some warm and tender kisses to follow. We dated on-and-off over two years, culminating in her turning down my proposal just before graduation. I wound up where I belong, with Judy. But when Leonard Cohen wrote "Alexandra Leaving", he was channeling my feelings, back then, about Nancy.