First Kiss

For some reason - I have no idea why - I found myself remembering my first kiss the other day.

I was in eighth grade and had been cast in a community production of Carousel. I was incredibly proud to be in the show because I hadn't even auditioned. I had worked with the director a couple of years earlier, but didn't think there was really a place for me in that particular production. About six weeks before the show was scheduled to open, the performer who was playing Enoch Snow, Jr. (an 18-year-old character with a significant speaking part) dropped out. Even though I was only 14 and had never carried a part this large, Sherry called me up and asked me to take over the role. I was thrilled.

The weeks leading up to the performances were fantastic. Two or three nights a week I got to go down to the performing arts center for rehearsals. The show involved a number of kids about my age (including, if memory serves, my future brother-in-law!), a couple of whom I had performed with before in other productions. This time, however, we were old enough that our parents weren't sticking around to keep an eye on us. That meant that when I didn't have to be on stage, I got to hang out, unsupervised, with the others in the wings.

Among those other kids was Bronwyn. She was a year younger than me, tall, lithe, and (to my 14-year-old eyes) breathtakingly beautiful. In addition, she was widely recognized as a rising dramatic talent, which made her that much more intriguing and alluring. She was auditioning for roles in movies! She was going to be famous! I was smitten. (Yes, the picture is actually her! )

The week before the curtain went up on the production, we moved rehearsals over to the Civic Center performance hall and they became a nightly affair. We would be stuck down there almost to midnight each evening, and those of us with relatively minor parts had a whole lot of free time on our hands. As you might expect, I spent a lot of that time off in the wings talking with Bronwen.

Imagine, if you will, the scene: Late at night, we're off in the dimly-lit area to the left of the stage, sitting together in a swing that was part of one of the sets. We're looking into each other's eyes, and in the background the orchestra can be heard working through If I Loved You, one of the timeless classics from the show...

"If I loved you,
Time and again I would try to say...
All I'd want you to know.

If I loved you,
Words wouldn't come in an easy way...
Round in circles I'd go.

Longing to tell you, but afraid and shy,
I'd let my golden chances pass me by.

Soon you'd leave me,
Off you would go in the mist of day,
Never, never to know...

How I'd loved you...
If I loved you."

Everything within me was telling me to kiss her. I'll admit to the fact that I was apprehensive, because I'd never kissed anyone before. What if she slapped me? What if I was a bad kisser and she spread the rumor around to everyone?? What if she never talks to me again??? You know the thoughts that run through your head in such a situation.

But suddenly, as I looked at this lovely girl, I thought to myself - this is it, David Roland. If there ever was a time to make your move, this is the time. So slowly, hesitantly, I leaned in until her lips met mine somewhere in the middle. We held the contact briefly, then pulled back and smiled at each other. Before either of us could say anything, the director was calling for the next scene and I had to get on stage.

And that was it. The show closed the next Sunday evening and I never kissed Bronwen again, though we remained friends through high school. She did eventually get cast in a movie - in Disney's Tom and Huck, which was filmed not far from where we lived in North Alabama, she played Tom's older sister, Mary. All of her lines got cut from the final version of the film, but she does appear on screen several times with Jonathan Taylor Thomas (who played Tom) and she did briefly date Brad Renfro (who played Huck). I suppose that at the time I just wasn't much of a match for the likes of those guys. ;-) But even if nothing ever came of it, I'll always remember that night very fondly, and I'll always smile when I hear If I Loved You.

Who was your first kiss and how did it happen?