With Arms Wide Open

Jacques Prevert once said, ~Millions and millions of years would still not give me half enough time to describe that tiny constant of all eternity when you put your arms around me and I put my arms around you.~ Let me ask you this question, when was the last time you hugged someone or someone hugged you? If you think about it, a hug can be very therapeutic because it can either take the pain away from heartbreak, ease the tension in a seemingly stressful day, or just show a sign of affection from one person to another. Yet, it can be just a simple greeting between two people or a group of people that haven't seen each other in days, weeks, months, or even years.

When it comes to giving someone a hug, men and women do it differently. Subsequently, there are two styles, which are the regular way and then there is the guy way. Women tend to react differently than guys when they haven't seen someone for quite some time. It's a level of excitement that somewhat overflows to a point where warm, friendly embraces run amuck. On the other hand for guys, it's totally opposite as we take that level of excitement down several notches. It's usually a head nod, then the obligatory handshake, which then leads into the shoulder bump, and ends with the proverbial pat on the back. It's that solemn and usually reserved greeting that again deems it another guy thing that we just do.

Working with kids for the past several years, I have received countless amounts of hugs from kids that genuinely like me for who I am. For in their eyes, I'm a weird, wacky, strange, sometimes mean, fun-loving counselor that takes their abuse and torture day in and day out; but I love them anyway. Let me tell you something, it's quite an event when you are unknowingly tackled to the ground by forty potential mini-linebackers who all at once are attempting to give you a massive group hug that will knock a person down. In any case, it is reciprocated as I give them bear hugs and oftentimes hug them when one is sad or injured themselves to take their mind off what just happened to them.

In some cases, when a person is locked in the arms of someone who cares for him or her either as a friend, family member, or one's potential and/or significant other you feel absolutely safe. It's that mindset that nothing will ever harm you when you are in the arms of the one you love or at least care about. While embracing, the beating of two hearts can be absolutely felt, as well as, heard depending on the size differential. Anyways, just like a kiss, a hug can most certainly determine one's intended interest in that particular person and it's all in how he or she holds him or her. Whether you are big, small, short, or tall, a hug coming from someone that means so much to you, whoever that may be, is worth receiving and giving back.

Someone once said, ~Hugging has no unpleasant side effects and is all natural. There are no batteries to replace, its inflation-proof and non-flattening with no monthly payments. It's non-taxable, non-polluting, and is of course, fully refundable.~ In other words, what is received can be given back as well. In the whole scheme of things, it doesn't cost a dime and you can freely give it to anyone you want. It would be an interesting concept if someone went out and gave hugs to people that they absolutely needed, like people who are really having a bad day and just hugged him or her. Though awkward at first, it's with arms wide open that a hug can make a person's day, as well as, your day seem that much special.