This was a lovely, lovely read Paul! You cannot imagine how much this resonated with me - I myself am not a hugger, from a family of 'un-huggers'. This was not a lack of closeness, we are all very close and loving but it was just not a thing for us. At work I had close friends who often hugged colleagues when we had not seen each other for a while (we were a national agency so all over the place) - I reacted the same way as you throughout many years, and eventually, also like you, I realised that this was important to them, so it needed to be important to me too, so in time it became something I did not cringe from! You have such a wonderful way of telling your stories - they pull the reader in and trigger memories and feelings. Such a wonderful skill! Thank you for sharing this with us at Move Me!