I believe in the importance and power of physical touch. This includes a variety of actions such as, hugs, kisses, handshakes, a high five, or even a simple pat on the back. My family is Italian and frequent physical touch is a part of our culture. From the day I was born, my parents never let me go to sleep without exchanging a hug and a kiss before I went to sleep or before I went out anywhere if I was in the same house. I never took time to think about why they made me and my siblings do this, it was just what I’ve known and grew up doing. I believe that this was my parents way of showing me how much they truly loved me. It was their way of showing that they have unconditional love and support for me and that they are always there for me. They didn’t even have to say this to me, this hug and kiss we exchanged said it all. When I decided to attend Roberts Wesleyan College, I had to make the sacrifice of living in a dorm and being far from my family in Albany.
This past summer, I decided to take some summer classes during summer session 1. The morning before attending my first class of the summer, I woke up and checked my phone. I had around 10 missed calls from my mom and realized that something wasn’t right. I called my mom right away and as soon as she answered I could tell that something was off. I will never forget what she said to me. She said, “Hannah, I have some really, really bad news.” My heart dropped and even before hearing what she had to tell me I started to cry and as I was telling her, “No please don’t tell me, please…” She said, “Hannah, Daddy died last night. He had a heart attack, I’m so sorry.” After our conversation, I called my boyfriend crying and told him the news and her rushed right over to see me. Without saying much, he sat with me for hours rubbing my back while I cried, held me in his arms and hugged me; he was right by my side when I physically needed someone there.
Physical touch was unexplainably powerful and crucial during this time. I like to think that when you are hugging someone whose life is falling apart, you are holding them together. It’s like glue that holds the broken person together. This is only one example that contributes to my belief that physical touch is so important. Sometimes I have moments, especially at college, when I feel down, unhappy and unloved and I believe that I could just be lacking hugs and the physical touch of another human. It’s kind of like feeling of being hungry after going without food for a while, our hearts can ache too for the affection that God created us to desire. I believe that God knows the power of physical touch and maybe we cannot physically feel His arms wrapped around us, but we can feel His love and presence wrapped around our hearts. He always knows when we need a hug, and those are the times that He will be there with open arms.
