Nerd Kiss

I'm repulsively in love. It's gross. Every love song on the radio and every mushy chick flick sends me into little floating heart fits of giddiness. I sometimes write disgusting Facebook stati about how in love I am, and for once, I'm not sorry about it.

This is my 7th blog post. And since 7 is Keri's favorite number, I thought I'd tell you a little story about believing in that life-changing, world-altering love story that we all love to hate. Because it's real. Because it happened to me.

Keri and I met just about 4.5 years ago, playing dodgeball. I was in a good place, not looking for anything magical, just looking to make friends and play a sweet sport.

I won't say it was love at first sight, that would be lying. I definitely thought to myself 'hey self, that's a pretty lady over there', but I wasn't in "love" the night we met. We didn't really have a "courtship", if I can use such an outdated word that seems only applicable to princes and princesses, but rather, we became a living example of the old lesbian adage, "what does a lesbian bring to a second date?"

Answer: A u-haul.

If you don't understand, just ask, I'll explain it.

We'll avoid too many details, but Keri and I spent an evening hanging out and the next morning, she left for a week for Christmas. I have never texted as much as I did that next week in my entire life. The weird thing is, I knew I was in trouble before she even got on that plane. We knew each other for just over a week before I fell for her. And I fell hard.

Gross, I know.

I am a hopeless romantic. For the longest time, I had genuinely convinced myself that romance and love weren't real unless they ended like Sleepless in Seattle. Then I became an angry, cynical teenager who grew into a young twenty-something that realized all of that is just Hollywood magic. Created purely so we can all live vicariously through characters whose portrayer's love lives were just as miserable as the rest of us.

Then I met Keri. And it was over. I was done. She was the closest to "you had me at hello" I'll ever get, and I'd venture to say that she had me at "hey again". And I wouldn't be lying.

I just recently finished the book What Dreams May Come, arguably one of the best pieces of literature I've ever read, so read it.

No, seriously. Write down on whatever "Books I should read list" you have, and write it down. Then pull that sweet move that Netflix let's you do on your instant queue, and bump that sucker to the #1 spot. You will in no way be disappointed.

Excellent. Now that that is done. Moving on.

It talks about soul mates.

Soul mates.

Such a weird subject when you think about it in the beautifully Western-world way we've learned to.

The book says that soul mates are two beings whose astral vibrations are the same. Like a melody, not complete until both parts are working together. I don't know how to feel about soul mates in the context with which I was first introduced, but there's something about the idea that soul mates are two people who are meant to bring this sweet melody to the world together that just makes sense.

Keri is my harmony. Sometimes there's dissonance, but overall, the song we bring to the world is beautiful, and I couldn't imagine the emptiness that would occur if I were to lose that other chord.

Wo.

This has all gotten very metaphorical and insanely mushy.

Let's Harlem Shake this business back to Earth.

Nerd Kiss.

My blog. All about experiences that have been ridiculous and silly and sometimes embarrassing, but have shown me something that the universe wanted to me see. So of course, my little love story wouldn't be any different.

I named my blog Nerd Kiss because it is the thing that sums up my life.

It's perfect, in all it's imperfection, and I wouldn't change it.

Here's where it came from:

Keri and I both have terrible eyesight. It's ghastly. There are glasses on each bedside table, and tiny screwdrivers in a lot of our junk drawers. Glasses cases in drawers, and contact solution in bulk under the sink.

When we're at home (when we lived in the same place), we normally wear our glasses. We had been dating for a few weeks, and we were lounging at home, watching movies or being silly or something, and I wanted to give her a kiss. So I leaned over for a kiss, and instead, was greeted with a 'klink'. Our glasses impeded the kiss. How nerdly precious. So we laughed about it, and Keri says 'aww, nerd kiss!'. It was so perfectly indicative of our relationship.

Adorable, but nerdy and perfectly imperfect.

The night that I decided to write this blog, I was so excited that I had come up with the 'theme' or whatever, and I was telling her about it. I told her that I just didn't know what to call it. I went to give her a kiss, and in the process, we had a nerd kiss. That was it.

You'll never see something that dorky in a movie, unless it's staring Patrick Fugit and Ellen Page, and is being produced by Focus Features....ok, you might see it.

But I certainly never saw it in any of the mushy chick flicks I grew up pining over. The first time it happened, I just remember thinking how perfect it was. That our relationship wasn't perfect, my life certainly wasn't perfect, but that one little thing was so perfectly us.

I just realized that I'm using the word perfect, or some variation of it, a lot in this blog. I'd apologize, but I'm not totally sorry, and I'm certainly not going to Thesaurus my face off to give you something more eloquent to read. I'm not perfect, and I'm also not Shakespeare. So excuse that transgression, and enjoy the rest of this.

That day, and every time a nerd kiss happens, I'm reminded of how beautiful the little imperfections of our lives are. I used to hate wearing glasses, but if I didn't wear them, there would be no nerd kisses. No reminders to embrace the little gifts that make you you.

My love story isn't chalk full of grandiose gestures and dozens of roses, nor fake orgasms in a cafe, or kisses atop the Empire State Building. No. Instead, it's full of so much more.

Of nerd kisses and sweet paintings with hidden meanings. Of 'please listen to this song I love it so much', and late night gigglefests when we should be sleeping. Of passion and understanding. Of dreams and desires. Of support - the best word I can find, although it doesn't even adequately encompass what she does for me - and of love. Not always mushy, gross, sweet nothings type of love. But a love that lasts ages. Love that is honest and kind, understanding and stern, and love that expects nothing. Nothing but me and nothing but her. No false pretenses, no expectations, no hidden truths.

Just me and her and the melody we make together.

And a whole lifetime of Nerd Kisses.