Hugs and Other Touchy Things

I believe the human soul requires the body to be touched in loving gestures frequently. With my friends back in SLC I am extremely physically affectionate; I hug and kiss my friends on a regular basis. Not that silly standing-three-feet-away-lean-in-and-a-pat-on-the-back kind of hug or the one arm hug – I hate that one. I’m talking about a full five second hug. Just for note, five seconds is a good long time to invade somebody else’s space, go ahead and try it. Anyway, when I was home last week, I hugged every friend I saw and they were long hugs, because I felt like my soul had been deprived, hell I was even hugging my favorite bartenders. A few friends even commented on the voracity of the hug and I think I may have bruised a few. Sorry…ok, not really, oops unless I did actually cause some damage, then I am sorry.

Most of my friends are physically affectionate as well, for instance Lindsay jumped into my arms, wrapped her legs around me and held on for dear life when she saw me – very touching by the way, it makes me smile even now. Sometimes it struck me at odd moments, like my last night there, I was lounging in Johnny’s office while he was working and as I was leaving the room, I turned back around and walked over and kissed him on top of the head. Believe me I am very lucky that I have friends who will let me do these things to them. There are two people that I wished I had given a proper good-bye hug to, because car hugs are so awkward, but hopefully I will see them both soon so I’ll make up for it then.

My point is, here in Chicago, I don’t have people here that I can hug forcefully, passionately, longingly or emotionally. Last night after volleyball we went to our sponsor bar for dinner and drinks (mostly drinks) and as I was leaving I did give everybody hugs and they of course willingly returned them, but it just didn’t feel the same. I do know it takes time and I’m willing to wait. But let this serve as a warning that the next person who comes to see me is going to have to endure a very, very, very long hug!