With that out of the way, I want to discuss the one event that started Dee and I down the path to our 25th. Our first kiss!
When Dee and I were in high school we were close. We would hang out between classes, at lunch and after school. Heck, we even shared a locker for our 11th and 12th grades. Many thought we were dating but we were just very good friends. On the weekends (what a surprise that we didn't have dates), I would come over and we would watch movies or music videos late into the night. Often cuddling or with my head in her lap as she caressed my hair. Then I would go home without even the slightest thought of kissing crossing our minds. "That would be disgusting!" would be our response to anyone who would ask if we had. That was our stance until February 1983 when it changed forever.
At the time, Dee worked at a sporting goods store so she could get us passes to go skiing on Friday nights at Mountain High. One of those nights I changed the oil in her car before heading up the hill. Unbeknownst to me, at the time, Deanna was watching me do a "guy thing" and she liked it! She would later inform me that I was, most importantly, taking care of her for the very first time in our relationship.
The following evening we arrived at Mountain High only to find out the hill was closed due to fog. So we went back to my house to watch a movie. We laid on my bed and were watching a movie but something seemed different to me. Deanna was cuddling a bit more affectionately than normal and I was really enjoying it. Then all of a sudden she turns, looks me in the eyes and says, "We should try to kiss!" Utterly stunned I respond "Sure!" We giggle and then she starts to move in. Our lips are about to touch when all of a sudden she opens her mouth so wide that I can see her uvula. We begin to laugh and I ask her "What was that?" She was starting to pull away when I said no. She then comes back and our lips touched. Everything else is a blur after that. All I can recall is the shear joy that this moment had FINALLY happened. We made out the rest of the evening and I walked her out to her car where we kissed some more. The next day we kissed again! From that point on we have kissed. At first in private and then in public as new lovers tend to do. The funny thing is that, unlike many couples, we continue to kiss in public to this day. We were not and still are not afraid to of these public displays of affection. That first kiss was in 1983 and so, in a way, we are celebrating our Pearl Anniversary after all!
Unfortunately A.L.S. will eventually rob me of my ability to kiss my beautiful bride. So, Deanna, I wrote you this poem,
We kiss when passing
Sweet pecks that flutter my heart
We kiss when embraced
So passionate and loving
But, also when we kiss
I see anguish in your eyes
and sadness of soul
Though this path may seem so cursed
it has bound us tighter
True, I am a shell of the man you once married
Please take heart my sweet
Though my body may be weakening
There is twice the man inside
We kiss and renew our love
so pure and sincere
Our souls intertwined
We kiss with such a rare passion
that only we understand
So when my body does fail
Please promise me dear
You will keep on kissing me
when I cannot kiss you.
-DLY
Happy Anniversary my Sweet!