Francis Gay

My American friend Debbie messaged me with an amazing story. On the same day she had sat on the edge of her bed wondering when she had last hugged someone or been hugged, she had been offered a kitten from a neighbour’s litter.

The rest of her message was about how cute the little white-with-black-splotches girl was, and how Debbie was re-designing her flat to accommodate her new room-mate. Wonderful stuff!

But, at the end of the message I was still thinking about the beginning. How sad that anyone should sit and wonder when they had last been hugged?

Of course, physical affection isn’t everyone’s thing. And, heaven forbid we impose cuddles on anyone. But no one should be left feeling so alone. Pets do a fine job keeping people company, but I’m sure us humans might do a little more. And we won’t scratch up the furniture!

John was feeling like an old man! He’s only 60, but a sore back had incapacitated him when the family were supposed to be having a day out in an adventure playground.

When they arrived, it was decided that he should sit on the picnic blanket with the bags, while his wife, daughter, son-in-law and three grandsons explored the park.

“I’ll just wait here like a useless bag of bones,” he complained. “But, I suppose that’s what it’s like when you’re old.”

“Aye, it is!” his son-in-law agreed. “But just let one of these three get into trouble, and you’ll be right there in the middle of it, keeping them all safe.”

“It was kind of him,” John told me. “He’s our most recent in-law. I think we’ll keep him.”

Kind? It was. True? Well, just ask any grandad. Most would be there, aches and pains or not.

Susan’s an adventurous soul. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t have her fair share of nerves and insecurities. She just handles them differently.

Like when she took up the Argentinian Tango! I wondered how she’d had the confidence to join a class full of strangers, on her own, never having danced tango before.

“It fired up all my fears,” Susan admitted. “I thought, I’d be too tall, too clumsy, my feet would be too big...Who’d want to dance with me? But I took all those worries and stuffed them deep into my handbag. Then I left that bag at the side of the dance floor.”

Needless to say, Susan is having a ball and she’s never short of partners.

We might never get rid of our fears, but what a good idea to have a bag like Susan’s where we can lay them aside for a while and enjoy life.