Dear Readers,
On this blog, I have often talked about my traumatic childhood and the lengths I have gone to in order to overcome it.
Every once in a while, I am reminded of what has gone before and how difficult it was to grow up in a house minus a lot of hugs.
About a year ago, my friend Nikki’s church advertised giving “free hugs” on Pride weekend to those people who wanted them because for whatever reason their parents didn’t embrace their life choice to be who they are. I thought this was an awesome idea and said, “Sign me up”
Well, my husband, sweet and supportive man that he is, decided we could do better than that, so we asked a few friends if they wanted to join the “Hug Team” and they said yes and we had about 9 people hugging. He also had some rainbow letters put on shirts for us and Vivienne and we wore them so everyone knew that “free hugs” were on offer.
We were not even to the parade route before we ran into Dylan, (who was my first Hug)
He was our own personal angel, because we noticed that Vivienne had lost her hat and he took off at a sprint and ran 2 blocks over to retrieve it, popped it on her head, and in a flash, he was gone.
We made our way to the main area of the parade, running into more people we hugged on the way. I honestly wasn’t sure if I would feel weird or awkward, but I didn’t, it was so great to just hug people and have it not be “weird”
I felt very blessed and privileged because no one has ever ostracized me or discriminated against me for loving the opposite sex. I have never had to hide my preferences or worry about losing my job or being attacked or even killed because of who I love or am attracted to.
Truly, my favourite part of this whole experiment? Watching Vivienne get loved on by everyone she met. We watched as she charmed every person and they all just loved her and she was having a great time just socializing.
I think my best hug “moment” was when I hugged this woman and she said, “Oh wow, that was like a real “Mom Hug” ! I got a little misty and said, “I am so glad”
I am aware of the healing properties of a hug, lots of articles, like this one posit the science behind why it helps.
Got Hugs? The Healing Power of a Good Embrace
The part that surprised me the most was the looks on people’s faces after we hugged, I think we did a lot of healing, and some of it actually healed me too.
I was not expecting that and it was a nice bit of lagniappe (French for extra) for sure.
Now I know we can’t go around randomly hugging people but it sucks that you can’t, because I think it would solve an awful lot of problems. Certainly not all of them, but a few, to be sure.
So what’s the point? Simple, who can you hug that might need it and taking it a step further, who can you get a hug from that might just heal your hurting heart?
Think About It.