I’ve had a cold the last couple days. No big deal, but I haven’t wanted to get “hug close” to people as much, so there’s less to report.
It’s been a Monday and Tuesday anyway, which are difficult days to get hugs. Did get the daughter hugs in there though. I don’t worry about her getting sick. My house is so small that it’s unavoidable that we’ll each get each other’s cold. Plus, it probably came from her any way… schools being petri dishes of cold and flu.
Unless it’s been from all the hugging I’ve been doing…. I hope not. That would put a serious dent in my experiment.
Got a “side hug” from my friend Chad. His daughter and mine are on the Middle School Volleyball team together. Side hugs are not as good as full hugs, but will do in a pinch.
I also learned a valuable lesson. Strangely, I became my own bad example in an improv workshop I was teaching. I was teaching a group of college kids (Theatre Appreciation class at St. Norbert College) some basic improv games. One of the big things I talk about is making connections with your fellow performers. Which includes, most importantly, eye contact.
We were standing in a circle and I was telling them about this blog and “Hug Therapy” And, as I do when I start talking about it, I felt the need to demonstrate that it’s not a big deal to hug someone. I side hugged the girl standing next to me. Forgetting the other major lesson I had just been teaching for the past 3 hours! Eye contact! She was standing next to me, not looking and I just grabbed her.
Idiot.
She gave the immediate body language of “What the hell? Get off me! Stranger danger!”… etc. etc.
I apologized and told everyone to be sure you have permission before you hug. I could’ve saved it with more grace, but I think I saved it “okay”… well, anyway, no paperwork is being filed, so I must’ve saved it enough.
But, lesson learned. Eye contact is important.