I have two beautiful daughters who absolutely love Frozen. And we have sung and danced to the soundtrack tons of times. But it wasn't until I had to be in an ice castle myself that I truly understood the need for human touch. And I felt the fear that Elsa felt that because of her body she could hurt those she loved most.
Today my isolation is up, technically, but I will still stay clear of my kids until tomorrow just to play it safe. These last few days have been extremely difficult. No one told me that my insides would feel like they were on fire, or the horrible heartburn I would experience. To quote Brian Regan, "all my insides feel like they want to be on my outsides". How true that it, how true that is. I told my friend I feel like I just ran a marathon and I'm one of those that has to crawl feet away from the finish line because I just can't take another step. From what I've read on other's blogs they didn't have this extreme reaction that I did, so I guess I'm just one of the lucky few. =)
We all have need of human touch. We need to feel that physical presence. I have been around people, adults, and we have talked and laughed and watched movies, but they all had to stay 7 ft away. I have been void of having hugs or held or snuggling with my kids. And I think that has been so emotionally hard. In our world today we have this technical, virtual, reality which is void of human touch. I am so grateful for webcams because I could see and talk to my kids and still participate in their life, family prayers, reminders to not forget school work, arranging schedules and telling them how much I love and miss them. But I couldn't touch them. My 17 month old baby carried the phone next to his cheek and walked around the house because that was "mom". ugh that was a rough one. But we survived. And tomorrow morning I get to hug and kiss them and hug and kiss them some more. And let's face it I will hug and kiss them lots and lots.
Don't be afraid to hug someone you love to show you care, or hold your kids one second longer because we all need that physical reassurance that someone cares. And truly hugging or shaking hands when being introduced or other physical contact is almost a lost art. We've replaced it with smaller and smaller hand held devices. I think of some of the movies that were made years ago projecting what the future would hold. Flying cars and instant food and robots everywhere. Well some of them have been not too far off the mark when I find that we are becoming the robots with all this technology right at our fingertips all day long. Which is a blessing and a burden, because you consciously have to chose to pick it up and use it, or let it be and physically be present.
I am grateful for this isolation time because it has shown me how much we really need each other and what good a simple warm hug can do! And since "winter's a good time to stay in and cuddle" that's exactly what I'll be doing the next few days, and that will make me one happy snowman!
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