Kisses & Love

Carter has started to comment about certain boys at school having "girlfriends" and how so and so "kissed each other" It's really quite comical how they interpret affection at such a young age, aside from what they know as being normal amongst family members. Even in high school, a sign of affection meant something BIG; it was a possibility. If a guy were to kiss you, like on the cheek kiss you, it could mean this is leading somewhere. If the word LOVE ever came up, you might as well consider yourself married and if it came from a girlfriend then you just might be a lesbian.... but it was up to your friends to come to a conclusion. Basically, you just avoid all signs of affection unless you were really into someone. It's confusing. I can see why Carter is all talk about this.

It's funny how that all changes as you age and as you mature. My girlfriends and their husbands would never leave my house without giving me good bye kisses. If I drop them off at home after being out... thank you kisses. If we run into each other unexpectedly..... happy to see you kisses. If we show up at each others places unannounced.... welcome kisses. When we meet at a restaurant for dinner.... glad you could make it kisses. If something sad happens.... so sorry kisses. There is no thinking twice about it. It's an expectation.

And the word Love is used more openly as an adult, I think because it goes hand in hand with the word Respect. My friends and I say I love you a lot. And we mean it. It's so great when you get to this point in your life where our nervousness, ego and guard can be let down and you can show people how you really feel about them without any awkwardness. Trying to explain this to someone as young as Carter just wouldn't make sense. Trying to explain it to anyone who isn't in a committed relationship probably couldn't make sense of it either, now that I think about it. You almost have to go through all the motions and emotions before you really get it. You have to feel grounded, solid and secure of yourself and your relationships. I believe it comes with age. Guess I'll have to wait til he is 30-something and giving congratulations kisses, good by kisses etc etc to his friends spouses before he will truly understand how it all works. For now, it seems he is too busy with playground weddings for this kind of talk so it'll have to wait.