A Light and Meaningful Hug Day

September 15, 2019 – It was an interesting hug day today. As I’ve said many times, we just never know from one time to the other if the crowd is going to be small or large, agreeable to hugs or walk on by, and today proved that point.

I would say it was an average crowd size and a very small hug ratio as we only gave and received 18 hugs, and two of those were before and after the event was over. 🙂

I usually take the city bus to hugs as it picks me up in front of my place and drops me off across the street from where we offer hugs. I happened to notice two couples sitting in front of me that made me smile as one was a young couple, probably in their 20’s, and the other couple was probably in their late 60’s or 70’s. I look at people all the time on the bus, but these two just grabbed my attention more than most, so much so, that I tried to get a picture from behind of both couples, but I was too close to do so. I did get a picture of the older couple.

A stop directly before my stop, Monica gets on the bus, someone I know from a sailing community I volunteer with. As my stop was next, there wasn’t much time to chat, but I did get a quick hug from her – #1 of the day.

Then Tony and I hugged for 30 minutes before Frank joined us. Often, it usually takes 5 minutes or so of warm-up before the hugs start flowing. I don’t know why, but it happens more times than it doesn’t. However, the hugs today just never really started flowing. We ended up with 16 hugs, which is probably our lowest count in an hour. We did get lots of smiles and thank yous for being there, but not a lot of hugs. As per usual, there is always at least one hug that reminds me why we are out there, and today it came from a man who told Frank as he walked up to him, ‘I really need a hug’.

In 11 years of hugging, I’ve yet to figure out what makes people break out of the crowd walking by and get a hug. That person(s) that takes the chance, usually sets off a chain reaction, and many more follow. Today, that just didn’t happen.

My last hug of the day came at the bus stop to return home. I ran into Russell, he used to be part of Positive Focus years ago when we had book clubs, and I haven’t seen him for a few years. So, while we may not have given out a lot of hugs to strangers, I had the great pleasure of running into two friends I haven’t seen in a long time to get/give hugs from.

I got on the bus to head home, and who do I see?? The older couple from my ride to hugs almost as if they were bookends to my day – showing up as what LOVE looks like.

It was simply another reminder that I don’t need to know the how or why, I just need to show up with LOVE as my guide and have a hug ready.