It’s the hugs I miss most.
Joyous bear hug greetings, gentle squeezes of love, and lingering arm-wrapped farewells. All have disappeared like a loose kite on the breeze since the coronavirus took over in mid-March. And if you’re a hugger, like I am, then you feel the loss of those sweet embraces from family and friends more than your heavy heart can say.
Because my family and I have adhered to medical pandemic protocol, we have only hugged those who live with us, and lucky for me, at least I have a husband to hug.
But for many living alone, there is no one to hug, and for them, the loss of physical touch surely has taken on more significance. One of those would be my sister, who lives alone out in Washington, D.C. Like me, she is also a big hugger, and so when she came upon an article on how to hug yourself, she gave it a try.
“If you wrap your arms around yourself and take a couple of big, deep breaths,” she optimistically told me, “it almost feels like someone is hugging you.” The thought of it made me weep.
As a hugger, I can remember the last person I hugged before the stay-at-home orders were put into place. Can you? Mine was with my sweet daughter-in-law, and as it turns out, I was hers too. Little did we know how drastically the world was about to change, and so that hug will be a cherished memory forever.
Alas, dearest ones, until it is safe to hug again, may you feel my love through the “words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart.”
I’m Marnie O. Mamminga and that’s my perspective.
