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Nancy Hesting's avatar

I truly enjoyed this piece. I think many Americans are hesitant to show this type of affection, but I'm glad Europeans do. I experienced it while in Spain meeting a few friends my husband had made when he visited there 6 years ago. I think we did a three-peat -- right, left, right, as I recall. It kind of caught me off guard at first, but didn't take me long to feel right at home. Thanks Gerard.

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Beth L. Gainer's avatar

Hi Gerry,

What a fantastic essay! I love the ending, and the whole piece is wonderful. I never thought of kissing customs until reading your article. When you describe the cheek to cheek kiss, what I think of is the Olympics, where the person who puts the medals on the world's best athletes often kisses each cheek, and it's the way you explained, like a light brush on each cheek. It always looks so classy.

Here in the United States, we tend to be uptight about affection. At a weekly support group we hug each other a lot and hold hands at the end of our meeting. It took awhile for me to get used to, but it's something I now look forward to.

I have to watch Casablanca one of these days. The Way We Were is a beautiful story.

Thank you for a wonderful piece on an important custom.

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