Thursday, July 25, 2013

Not huggy

Hugging means waiting for someone to let go of me. That's how I see it. No, I do not want to hug you. No, I do not want you to hug me. But people do it. You just can't stop them.

I think I inherited this attitude from my mother, who was a curiously unhuggable woman. Mind you, she was a sweet, good person. But she didn't like to be hugged. If despite her wishes, you hugged her, she would put her arms around you without touching you. She'd keep herself at least an inch away from the actual, you know, person.

If I was lucky enough to be in position to see her face as someone hugged her, I saw boredom and a grudging willingness to put up with it. This always made me laugh. I could almost hear her thinking, "I know you need this, honey, but I don't". Ever polite, she waited for the hug to end, put a smile on her face and made believe it never happened.

Mind you, there's a time for hugging. If someone receives horrible news while in my presence, I hug them. But if there's no major tragedy in the air, I keep my distance and hope the other person will do the same. Doesn't always work out.

Hugging. It's not for everyone. Where do you stand on the hugging spectrum?