Monday, July 16, 2007

Careful, he's a hugger!

My birthday is this weekend, so my parents are making me dinner on Friday. My mom likes to make dinner for everyone on their birthdays... it's just one of those things that we do. This year, some of my friends might be coming out there with me to eat my mom's yummy food and hang out. I felt compelled to warn them about something before they meet my dad:

"Just so you know... he really likes to hug. A lot."

My dad is a serious hugger. My whole family is, really. I've never really thought about it as being all that strange... when you grow up in a hugging family, you just sort of assume that this is normal behavior. I remember thinking it was really weird when I came across friends whose families didn't hug. In my house, there was rampant hugging! All of the time! Are you sad? You need a hug. Happy? That qualifies for a hug. My dog even loves to hug me. I'm just kind of used to it.

I've really been thinking a lot about this lately... which lead to my discovery of this video:



This guy is a busker from Montreal who is a serious hugger. My family does not hug as much as this dude does. But watching it made me think about some interesting things...

Which of my friends are huggers and which aren't? Do I have friends that I hug and some that I have never, ever hugged? It sort of seems weird to me that I could have people that I consider to be good friends of mine that I have never hugged before. Is it weird? Have you really cemented your friendship with someone if you have never hugged them before? I've hugged people that I've just met. Is it crazy to hug someone you barely know? Would you ever hug a stranger?

Hugging sure is complicated for something that seems so normal to me! So friends, tell me your thoughts on hugging. I'd love to hear them.

*internet hugs*

6 comments:

brie said...

I come from a hugging background too, Sarah. The worst is when you hug someone and they are not a hugger, but they try to hug you anyway. Actually, that's not the worst.

The worst is trying to hug someone while in a car, particularly if you are the driver's seat. It's hard not to come across as a huge perv if you're hugging while seated in a car.

sarah said...

Ah, yes! Another hugger! Hugging in the car is tricky, I agree! I think the worst part about being a hugger is in the moment when you are trying to decide whether or not it is okay to hug a person who is not a hugger. It's my first inclination to want to hug everyone! Tricky business indeed.

Erin Riley said...

my family is full of huggers too! i've been trying to hug my friends more often, but i know i don't do it enough. one time, a university class buddy at sfu gave me a hug after class. she said she was trying to hug people more. it sort of creeped me out, because i really didn't know her at all. so while i'm a hugger, i do have boundries.

Erin Riley said...

This brings up another interesting aspect of friendship: telling your friends you love them. Sometimes it just falls out at the end of a phone call: "love you!" and then there's an awkward pause before you hang up. I just did that the other day...

sarah said...

I think it goes without saying that at the next bloggergirls meeting, it will end with hugs all around!

I'm like that too, Erin. Sometimes when people you don't really know give you a hug, it is weird. But then again, if you meet someone who you totally like right away, the hugging isn't strange at all.

It's all very complex.

Lydia said...

Erin should come back so we can have a summer blog girls meeting. At the beach with ice cream.

I hugged a girl I met for the first time yesterday. It just seemed right.