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Today in My History
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Theater Reviews
Bev's 65 x 365 Cast (updated 7/16)
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HUGGING DAY 22 January 2021
Today I heard is National Hug Day. This is a day that was founded by Rev. Kevin Zaborney on March 29, 1986 in Caro, Michigan. The purpose of the day is to help everyone show more emotion in public. The only way to celebrate the day is by offering a hug to anyone and everyone you want, unless there is a pandemic going on. The origins of the word are unknown, but two theories exist. The first is that the verb "hug" (first used in the 1560s) could be related to the Old Norse word hugga, which meant to comfort. The second theory is that the word is related to the German word hegen, which means to foster or cherish, and originally meant to enclose with a hedge. I don't remember growing up with a lot of hugging (but give how huggy my mother is, I probably did), but hugging became a part of our lives when we started hosting Brasilians. Over ten years we had lots of Brasilians in our house. When I hosted groups, saying goodbye took forever because everybody had to hug everybody else.
Maybe Brasilians are happier than a lot of other people. Hugging is sometimes called the "cuddle hormone" because hugging releases oxytocin from the pituitary gland, which releases a feeling of calmness and relaxation. Once we had no more Brasilians, we had Steve Schalchlin, a world class hugger.
One of the most difficult things about COVID-19 is not being able to hug anybody. I'm so used to greeting people with a hug, I hardly know what to do when I can't hug them. I ran into Shelly shortly after Ellen died. We were both masked and I needed to hug her, but could not. Ellen and Shelly were always the best huggers.
One of the nice things about the inauguration yesterday was the genuine affection between Joe Biden and his wife.
something we have not seen in the White House for the past four years. Sending a virtual hug to all of the readers of this entry.
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This is entry #7609