Hugs!

I’ve been thinking about hugs lately.

Last Sunday, I observed a bubbly, 5 or 6 year old girl bask in pleasure after one of her many aunts in Christ gave her a big, motherly hug while we exchanged greetings during church service. She shrieked and wiggled with glee. Amused, I walked up to her and asked her, “Would you like another one?” Of course she didn’t mind.

Then yesterday in church, one of my Sunday school kids walked up to me, “Auntie, Happy Valentine,” with a big, kiddie hug. The hug came at the time I was trying to get 20 plus kids to settle down so that we could start our lesson. Aaaaww! A heart melting hug from a sweet kid. Like the first lil’ girl, I’m still relishing in my Valentine hug. : )

Gary Chapman, talks about physical touch as one of the love languages in his seminal book, The Five Love languages. This book has been instrumental in helping me to understand that people express love in different ways. I love receiving and giving hugs but it’s neither my primary nor secondary love language. One of my close friend’s primary language is physical touch and whenever we meet, it’s all sisterly hugs and kisses. And I do these because of her.

I normally extend my hand when greeting people but I’m mostly ok with it if the other person prefers a hug. I often assume that physical touch is their love language. On my recent trip to Egypt, I found out that cheek kisses are normal greetings. When my sister and I discussed this with my parents, my dad also talked about another culture, I think New Zealand, where people look into each other’s faces and rub their noses as a sign of greeting. Hehehe! And now that’s interesting!

Hugs,
Akofa. : )

Edited to add: You can check out this blog too, although it's not directly maintained by Gary Chapman himself.