“My First SWOON” by Kailtyn

Thanks so much to everyone who responded to the “My First SWOON” series of guest blogs with stories to their own. More than 30 entrants. A lot! I don’t believe that large response was generated by a chance to win a signed copy of SWOON as much as the fact that the emotions attached to this pivotal experience are simply that strong, that moving, you were compelled to share. I relished all the stories, from the pre-school swoons to the swoon-of-fruition following a 12-year crush. Some swoonies were unabashedly romantic while others had the wry humor of retrospect. And the boys in these stories—each one swoonworthy in his own way.

Clearly, choosing a winner was no small task. I was nearly reduced to a random close-my-eyes-and-point selection process. Instead, I ultimately picked a swoon that resonated with me because it was so fresh, so immediate. Just two days before writing, a young woman of 16 had her first swoon. And dang, it was a doozy!

Only now I face a greater hurdle. A technological one. The winning “My First SWOON” was written by a girl known only to me as Kailtyn. Are you out there, Kailtyn? Are you reading this? Please reach out to me at nina@ninamalkin.com so I can get a signed copy of SWOON on its way to you. Aside from making this direct appeal, I’m clueless how to get in touch with you. I clicked on your name, but there was no contact info. Blogger.com “help” was…not. This contest-having thing is new to me, so perhaps I should’ve built in a mechanism to ensure being able to locate the winner, but being dumb like that failed to do so. So if you’re Kailtyn, write to me with your address and how you’d like your copy of SWOON to be personalized and it shall be signed, sealed and delivered, pronto.

Meanwhile, below, Kailtyn’s first SWOON in all its wet and wild glory…

My first official swoon happened 2 days ago. I am 16.

I was down in Tennessee on a mission trip. We went white water rafting. You had to be in groups of six and you got to choose your guide. Well, seeing as we were on a church mission trip I didn’t want to pick this one guy, who I later found out is named Cody, because I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus. So we picked this other guide named Cameron.

We started out and it was just raining. But then it rained harder and started hailing. I felt like I was in the coast guard or something. We hit a class 4 rapid, which is like the biggest one they have where I was at, and I fell out. Now I’m a pretty good swimmer but it was like a monsoon going on. So all the sudden I'm lifted out of the water by none other than Cody, the dreamy tanned and muscular guide I mentioned earlier.

Now the saving position is so that when you are pulled up from the water the person saving you falls back and you end up on top of them. And that’s exactly what happened to me. And I was just shocked and didn’t even get up. I just lay on top of him all wide eyed until someone asked if I was okay. That snapped me right out of my little bubble and I felt to embarrassed but he told me it was fine and it was a pleasure saving me. SWOON MOMENT :)