Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Hugs & the "Get Off Me" Pat

A friend takes you to a new group of people and you play games together for an evening. As you are leaving, everyone gives their farewell hugs....then they all feel obligated to hug you awkwardly. Why do we do this?

But when then do you break the initial hug barrier? I had two new people hug me at church on Sunday - not just once, but several times. I love a good hug, don't get me wrong - I just wonder what makes a person initially cross that line.

I especially love the "get off me pat" - aka - when you are done hugging someone, there is always a pat, whether on your behalf or the other party's - someone always gives a good pat to signal the end of said awkward embrace. Not that there's anything wrong with that. :-)

3 comments:

Mena said...

Really good hugs with really good huggers don't have the pat at the end. It's more like a slow pull away from each other.

Shayla said...

oh I HATE those awkward "I don't know you but I have to hug you" hugs. BLECH.

Jon said...

Haha! I think the awkward hug might sometimes be to break the ice so that in the future you can have a good hug. And I think the pat is funny, because it's so universal. Kind of like the pat at the end of a massage.