I& #39;m not sitting here in my house carving off the days on the wall or anything, but every so often I find myself wondering "how many days is it since X?" and so I work it out. This happened yesterday - I wondered how many days it was since I& #39;d last touched someone, so I counted -
and it turns out that today is 75 days since I last touched another human being. That& #39;s not the same number as lockdown itself, it just happens that for me, that& #39;s how long it is. For others it will be much higher, and of course we don& #39;t know how long it will yet be. 75 days.
Goodness me. Whether you& #39;re an extrovert or an introvert, a hugger or not, that can& #39;t be good for a person, can it?! What do I miss? I miss hugs, obviously. I miss hugging my Godchildren and their siblings in particular. I miss hugging the gorgeous kids at church.
But I miss other things too. I miss a hand on the arm mid-conversation to emphasise a point. I miss a playful punch when telling a joke. I miss an encouraging hand squeeze. I miss a hand on the back as you turn to say goodbye. I miss prayer ministry laying on of hands.
I miss massages. I miss just being physically close to other people. In normal life, there& #39;s quite a lot of touch. It reminds us we& #39;re alive, it brings warmth and comfort and solidarity and hope. We& #39;ll be able to touch again, one day, I know -
and hopefully appreciate it all the more. Till then, I& #39;m grateful for this beautiful @charliemackesy drawing.