Kissing is weird. Really though, when you get down to it, it's a pretty bizarre concept. By slapping together our wet faceholes that are biologically engineered for breathing and eating, we are showing each other affection? Huh. And the acceptance of kissing goes through some odd phases. As a baby, you are essentially taught to kiss everything under the sun. Then as you enter junior high and high school, your parents treat kissing like a sexual gateway drug and tell you to keep your lips to yourself. But behind closed doors, you are tongue wrestling with everyone in sight; that is, until you find that special someone, and suddenly they become the only one you kiss. And then you have a child, become the one teaching the 'kiss everything' lessons, and it all starts over again in one strange, lip-smacking Circle of Life.
My daughter has now reached the point of being in a constant kissing frenzy. It started off as pecks for me and my wife. It gradually progressed to grandparents, then some of her favorite toys, then she learned to blow kisses. Now anything on this planet that exists in some state of matter is fair game when it comes to her affection. Here's a brief list of some of the things I've seen her kiss lately:
- Sidewalk chalk drawings
- Her clothing
- The horse emblem on my Polo shirts
- Bubbles
- Bath water
- Elmo Easter basket
- A box of Pita Chips
- Mirrors (she's a vain little girl)
- Countless pictures in books, and ALWAYS the ones of monkeys
Clearly, she doesn't have a lot of discretion as to where, who, or what she places her lips on. Or does she? Although it can be a little disgusting at times ("we do NOT put our mouth on the puppy's food bowl!"), for the most part it's extremely endearing. And the fact is, because she still hasn't mastered talking yet, kissing (always accompanied by a familiar, breathy "MAH!") is her way of simply saying "I think you're awesome!" to whomever/whatever is on the receiving end. She can't look at me in the morning and say "This Abby Cadabby top would go great with those pink stretch pants", so instead she lays a wet one on it. She can't tell the dog "You know, I really appreciate how you tolerate me poking you in the eye and pulling your tail", so she buries her face dangerously close to his butt and gives him a smooch.
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| Seal knows a thing or two about kissing random objects. |
She loves everything. And I love that she loves everything.
As nerdy and as trite as it sounds, that wonderment of a child is a beautiful thing to behold. There's an innocence to her kissing habits that brings a smile to my face. As someone who is typically a pessimist and spends too much time talking about the things I hate, seeing her show so much adoration towards so many different things helps defrost my jaded-by-adult-life heart. Life's too short to be angry about everything, and you don't have to be the drunk guy at the party to love everything around you. Quite frankly, the only things I've ever seen my daughter openly dislike are the vacuum cleaner and doorstoppers (we still haven't figured this one out), and that's only because she's convinced they're going to attack her.
After you read this, take a page from my daughter and spend a day focusing on all the things you think are awesome in your life. Now, I'm not advising you to go out and kiss everybody that does something nice for you. That stranger who lets you merge during rush hour might be a bit taken aback when you rush up to their car window with your lips puckered. Maybe we should all spend a day each week making a list of the things we think are great. In a time where the Internet is a harboring ground for complaining, anger, and grumbling, it's important for everybody to stop and refocus on the good things in life.
Call me a sap, call me corny. I'm just ready to start handing out kisses.
3 comments:
Dude, I swear you speak about how I feel as well. My son just started learning to give kisses as well. It's so adorable. When I say give daddy kisses, he comes up to me and puts his mouth on mine lol. Same with his mommy. Toys as well. My wife will say kiss the baby, and he'll go up to a doll (it was my wife's don't judge me) and he'll plant one on it. Great post man!
That was amusing and sweet.
I have a few nephews, so I see a different perspective; if they like you, they won't hug and kiss you, rather grather all of their toys and bring them to you and share. Its endearing. We can all really learn so much from children and their simple behaviors.
-Izzie
Izzie, that is a good point. When I was little, I wasn't overtly affectionate, but if I asked you to come draw with me or look at 'X-Men cards', you had pretty much made it to my good side. To each child his/her own!
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