First post here. I hope this format is acceptable! Constructive criticism appreciated.

• Background story the first:

I lost my virginity to an older woman, and she took pains to make sure I was okay with the fact that she'd been with "more than a few" men, which of course I was fine with. Anyway...

The Night™ arrived, and we were fooling around under the covers (meaning she hadn't seen it yet but I'd been poking her thigh), she grabbed it and, naturally, her hand went flying right off the end. (If you are likewise inexperienced, the easiest explanation is that a foreskin which has ample slack left when hard is like one of those water-wiggler toys that rolls through itself to slip out of your hand. It slips other places too...)

Her: "Um.... *slightly concerned* What's that?"

Me: (Because clearly this is the best time to use humor) "That's my penis, dear. It's what boys have instead of a vagina."

Her: *Less concerned because if something was really wrong I wouldn't be joking about it, but still super confused* *Reaches for it again, grabs it again, hand sails off the end again* "No, thaaat!"

Me: "Ooooooooh, thaaaaaat. That's my foreskin."

Her: "Oh! Oh, oh, that means you're circumcised, right? (Precisely backwards, but in the ballpark!) How... does it work?" (In the years since, I've come to realize that the notion that something down there "works" at all, like, actually has moving parts, is not well explained by american sex-ed, at least not in the midwest!)

So we pulled the covers aside, turned on another light, and I proceeded to be the center of curiosity for a good long while. Words like "mesmerized" come to mind. You know how guys never get tired of fondling boobs? It was kinda like that, for the entire rest of our relationship.

We did eventually do the deed, which was fun AF (har!), and precipitated another round of "whoah that didn't rub me raw like everyone else" amazement, etc. I'll spare you the details!

But what really got me about this was the immediate reversal of experienced/inexperienced. In 2 seconds, she went from the older guide to the clueless newbie, and it turns out I love being part of someone discovering something new.

• Background story the second, third, fourth...

No more virginity stories on my part, but lots more first-uncut-guy-for-her stories. I have found two, count 'em two who had prior experience with foreskin, and those were also great relationships but I really missed that aspect of surprise and curiosity in the bedroom. (Although one was quite obsessed with it -- see the boob analogy above -- it didn't mean the same to me.)

When someone's new to it, even after we've been together for months or years, there's still this bit of "Let's go do that special thing that I only get from you (and don't need lube for)", which I guess is the root of the confession here.

• Wherein, the confession:

Yeah, I think that's it. Part is the joy of discovery, like playing your favorite song for a friend and they totally dig it too, it's a thrill and a connection and a magic moment watching someone's face light up with this new thing that you were able to share with them. But the other part is, imagine if record stores didn't exist and any time they felt a hankering for the Lizzard Wizzard they'd just come over... it adds a layer to the intimacy, to represent something new and natural and "you push buttons I didn't know I had", like someone's just discovered stereo audio and they are blown away that all this time they've had two ears and it turns out nature made us that way for a reason and they just. can't. get. enough.

So I guess the real reason this is a confession is that I feel a bit guilty for not feeling the same thrill with those two, who were previously rockin' out in stereo, for whom I was just another album.