My first kiss (and most embarrassing moment ever)

Let me set the scene:

It's summer camp. A warm, breezy night. Clear, star-speckled sky. The boy I've been crushed out on for two summers has finally, finally asked me out, and now he's walking me back to my bunk after evening activity. We take a detour across an open field, supposedly (wink, wink) so he can show me how to locate the North Star (you find the Big Dipper, then draw a line straight up from the bowl of the ladle--but I digress). We find and admire it. Finally, he puts his hands on my shoulders and turns me towards him. My heart is pounding.

This. Is. It.

But he hesitates. "Hey," he says quietly. "Have you ever kissed anyone before?"
Truthfully, I answer, "No" before asking, "Have you?"
"Yes," he answers.
And then, before he can press his lips to mine, I quickly say, "Oh! I forgot. I have too."

Oh. I forgot. I have too.

I actually said those words.

Like, When you asked if I had ever had another boy's lips on mine I said no because I am soooo sexually experienced that I simply cannot keep track of all my romantic encounters. It's not that I've never kissed anyone before. It's that I've kissed so many boys I sometimes get confused about having kissed any. You understand how that can happen to a person. Right?

Oh. I forgot. I have too.

Now that I am an adult, I sometimes say or do things that I am embarrassed about. Maybe I don't remember somebody's name even though we've been introduced multiple times. Maybe I claim to have read a book I only read a few pages of. Maybe I mispronounce a foreign word.

But you know something? When that happens, I shouldn't bother to be embarrassed. What I should do is simply repeat the following six words to myself:

Oh. I forgot. I have too.

Because honestly, who could be embarrassed about anything after that?

How about you? Tell me about your most embarrassing moment or your first kiss. (Or, if you're like me, you can tell about both at once.)

To read the first chapter of The Darlings in Love (a book in which there are several non-humiliating first kisses), click here.

xoxo,
Melissa