On this day thirteen years ago, I had my last ever first kiss.
It happened during the Jack and Jill we put on for my oldest sister and her fiance. I was really excited because I knew that I'd get to see the "tattooed hunk" again. He was one of my older sister's friends and neighbours, so he was bound to be there.
Our flirtation had been on going for a while, by that point. When we first met, I was seeing someone else. I'd stopped in at my sister's house with my then-boyfriend and my mom to drop off a bunch of tickets for a comedy event I was volunteering at.
Matt was there, sitting at their kitchen table with my sister's fiance and another neighbour having a few beers. My sister and her fiance had a snake, Tiny, that I loved holding whenever I visited. Tiny was an affectionate snake, but on that particular day he'd gotten tangled in my hair and locked my arm up against my head. I couldn't detangle him on my own without risking hurting him. Matt ended up coming to the rescue.
The way he looked and smiled at me while he gently freed the snake from around my neck evoked a thousand butterflies that have never lessened or quietened in all the years we've been together. His fingers had brushed against my skin ever so politely, and yet with that simple touch...something in me knew I'd found it.
It was instant. Cliche as that is to admit...but it's true. But nothing more came of that encounter, and it was over almost as soon as it happened.
The second time we saw each other was at that comedy event. I was still dating my ex, but Matt flirted with me blatantly. He must have checked his coat a hundred times that night...just so he could flirt with me.
The attraction was strongly felt, I just thought it was one-sided and I was imagining all of the longing glances and flirtatious grins. He seemed so out of my league; the older guy, covered in tattoos and piercings. I was convinced he was just flirting with me because he knew I thought he was hot and he wanted to mess with me. Plus, I was seeing someone else at the time. As hot as I thought he was, I wasn't that kind of person.
But when that relationship came to its inevitable end, I went a little wild. One night in early February, I showed up at my older sister's house unannounced with liquor and a couple friends and demanded that she throw a party. She fetched a few neighbours, and yes...he was one of them, just like I knew he would be.
I was already drunk when the rest of my sister's neighbours arrived, and attempting to do a ninja roll with my soon-to-be brother-in-law. Matt walked into that hot mess...me smacking my head off the wall and falling on my ass when I failed. I also apparently revealed a little too much of myself that night. As in; I pulled my pants down to "show off" my stomach tattoo and was so drunk I gave him an extra peek...
Classy, I know, but he must have liked what he saw, because he added me to Facebook and started buying me on Friends For Sale not long after that.
While we didn't make it "official official" until the 25th of February, I still attribute the night of my sister's Jack and Jill as the night we got "together". It was the night of our first kiss*, the night I realized I really could fall madly in love with him.
And I'm so glad I did!
Thirteen years and two beautiful boys later, and we're still going strong. Our story will always be my most favourite love story, and I'm thankful I get to live it.
Happy Anniversary, babe!
*Speaking of our first kiss...did I mention it happened in front of ALL of our family members and friends in the middle of the dance floor while I rocked a kissing booth costume?