Quick break from picture moments - back on that another day. Tonight I have been thinking about the beauty of touch, of closeness, of being created in a body that can be completely transformed by one touch from another body. God is so cool that He made us this way :-). When Sam was little, he loved to be held, to hug us, to climb into our laps. He was definitely our most physically affectionate child and still is. One of my favorite things he used to say was "Mama, I wanna sungle" - he couldn't quite get out the word "snuggle" correctly. He would stick his thumb in his mouth, wrap himself up in the soft purple sheet he used to sleep with, and just try to get as close to me as he possibly could. Most of the time it felt like he would have crawled into my skin if he could have.
When Sergey was here, there were times when I almost had to walk away from him because I didn't think I could restrain myself from hugging him tightly and not letting him go. I can't even describe the feeling, but it came from deep, deep within - this need to wrap him in my arms and just hold him. When I would walk by him sitting in a chair I would reach out and just touch him on the arm. I would pat him on the shoulder or back or squeeze his arm gently whenever it seemed even remotely appropriate (telling him I was proud of him for something, etc.). I LOVED doing Rosetta Stone with him because we would sit on the couch and work on the laptop together and inevitably our arms would touch as we were working. I loved meal times when we would hold hands and pray - I would always try to get the seat next to his.
I love to hug my kids, to kiss them, to rub their backs, to hold their hands. I never knew how much that meant to me, how much I loved it, until there was this grown up boy in my home and in my heart who I loved so desperately, who might be uncomfortable with my touch. Who might not have always have experienced touch as a positive thing. What is it deep within us that makes touch so lovely, so essential? Why does a hug connect us like nothing else?
I was always struck as a child with the stories about lepers in the Bible, how no one but Jesus would touch them, and how His touch brought healing to their unending loneliness. I want to be able to hug Sergey every day, every hour, and yet he is so far away. My prayer is that Jesus, who could touch those who no one else could touch, will touch him, wrap his arms around him, and heal him. And I'm starting to think that when he is here at Christmas, I might just hug him a lot more and hope he's okay with it :-).
This concept is so interesting to me... Our kiddo would always snuggle up to me when he could. If we were watching his T.V. he would move over until our arms were touching. He often wrapped his arms around me. We actually discussed this after Christmas hosting. I initiated touch, but he followed through quite nicely. I asked him what he thought, and he said he was craving it, but wasn't sure it was okay until I initiated. Then, in his words "it was awesome!" Obviously some kids are more comfortable with it than others due to their personality and their past, but I say go for it - hug, hug, hug!
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