Sometimes one of the best sources of solace is simply letting go of all one's tension in the arms of a warm, strong, solid hug. It was something I had counted on through the last several years, even just psychologically if not physically.
These days I realize that I've become a bestower of hugs. It's not something I ever associated with myself; keeping my physicality aloof from those around me and reserved for a select few on special occasions and definitely for a special someone. But in the latest metamorphosis of the person I thought I was, I've become someone who gives hugs daily, to a number of people, often.
I've seen the way a hug lights up a lonely face with joy as I wrap my arms around a confused and lost soul. I've felt the unspoken compassion that's shared daily in a hug of habit, in mere hellos and goodbyes. The kindness that's elicited through a contact where warmth transfers and redistributes so that both parties share a moment of sameness.
There are so many times when every muscle and pore of me longs for a certain hug, but I've realized in finding myself that sometimes it's a profound kind of magic to simply give them.
