The Radiant Joy of an Unexpected Kiss

Positive story alert:

This morning, I exited my building to deposit a birthday card into the curbside mailbox (which is a block away) and to take a walk in the lovely weather.

However, just a couple of buildings down and across the street, I noticed two men, somewhere in the range of 28-32 years old, walk out together. Given their stances and distance, I had some degree of anticipation as to what might next occur, but also thought it somewhat unlikely.

Since it's impolite to stare, I squelched my considerable desire to do so, but with good peripheral vision and a furtive glance or two, I did indeed see them kiss, and then one fellow gave the other one a little boop on the nose with his finger, before each headed off in a different direction, obviously on their respective ways to work.

It was really quite adorable, rather unexpected for a Monday morning (or indeed, any day in the past couple of years), and, in the parlance of Marie Kondo, most definitely sparked joy, put a little extra pep in my step, and was remarkably effective at distancing my mind from the existential worries I often find occupying me in the present day.

I had a bit of an impulse to applaud, but wouldn't have wanted to have rendered them inappropriately self-conscious in the long-term. :-)

Still, I hope they picked up on my slight smile from across the way and intuited that their own sweet moment radiated a bit of joy beyond themselves.

Originally posted to Facebook, August 2, 2021.