Bésame

Two nights ago, I attended a fabulous international birthday party. I recommend you get yourself invited to a party hosted by an international student or recent emigre and attend, even if you don't know if anyone else there will speak the same language as you.

A majority of the partygoers at the 30th birthday soiree were Latin American. The more we drank, this game started up. Like some sort of grown-up version of 'Spin the Bottle,' someone would decide to shout "beso, beso, beso" and everyone else would join in. "Beso" means kiss, so whenever that was shouted, you were supposed to kiss the guy next to you. This was cute when chanted at the birthday girl and my amiga Maria, because they had significant others to kiss but when I had it shouted at me, I sort of backed down. I don't know what's wrong with me; I should have given the fella' next to me a good-natured kiss on the cheek, but I was afraid that the gesture would be interpreted as more (which once again, is immature of me because kissing on the cheek is a natural way to kiss friends in many Latin American cultures).

Last night, I was recounting that episode to a friend and it dawned on me that I missed a key moment of socialization when I was younger that potentially led up to this episode. When I was in middle school, I was sleeping over at my best friend's place and she was invited to a no-adult party and I, by proxy, had been invited too. For whatever reason, my friend's mother decided she didn't want to drive us over (I'm thinking she found out about the lack of supervision). Later, I found out that 'Spin the Bottle' was the main event at the party. I was not invited to a no-adult party until I was much older, and by that time, it was totally uncool to play. If pop culture (more specifically, TGIF sitcoms) is any indicator, playing 'Spin the Bottle' or 'Seven Minutes in Heaven' would have been a defining moment in my life. Suddenly, I was an 18-year-old college student with no point of reference.

I was going to continue talking about my lack of socialization with males when I was growing up, but I'll save that for another, perhaps another blog.

Apparently, on an episode of "Friends," the characters re-enacted their teenhood by playing "Spin the Bottle" as adults. I think I need to reclaim that period of my life. I need to not be shy about beso-ing. I think the shouting of "beso" should be instituted at future parties, because despite the embarrassment factor, it's also highly entertaining. Even if there's no romantic desire involved (as was the case at this party) in a cheek kiss, it's one way to make to get everyone at the party feeling comfortable.