My happiest memory from college

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Before my first year at SOAS was done, I was head over heels in love with Debbie. I got into the habit of kissing her on the cheek whenever I saw her. However, one day she brought her little boy to college for some reason, and I thought nothing of it. It came back to me - not from her - that he had later asked her: "Mum, why does that man kiss you?" From then on, instead of a kiss, I would touch my fore and middle fingers to my lips and then to her cheekbone.

I had more or less forgotten this habit. It was twenty years ago. But I happened to perform the same act - fore and middle finger to my lips - when singing an old song, and all her beauty and that extraordinary mix of sharpness and sweetness came back to me.

I did not treat the women I loved as they deserved. But I have been lucky in every one of them.