Tag: hugs

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One New Year’s Resolution: Hug me like you know me

Story by Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross Minnesota Region

Some people are Natural Born Huggers. Take Jane. During a recent party, Jane came up to me. “You probably don’t remember me,” she said. I sort of did, but not really. It didn’t matter. She opened her arms wide and wrapped them around me. “Hug me like you know me,” she said.

“I want a hug,” said Fonda Buckley, a resident just beginning to recover from the historic flooding in southern Louisiana, who stopped to talk with Red Cross relief worker Lynette Nyman in Denham Springs, Louisiana, August 18, 2016. Photo credit: Marko Kokic/American Red Cross
“I want a hug,” said Fonda Buckley, a resident just beginning to recover from the historic flooding in southern Louisiana, who stopped to talk with Red Cross relief worker Lynette Nyman in Denham Springs, Louisiana, August 18, 2016. Photo credit: Marko Kokic/American Red Cross

After nearly eight years of responding to Red Cross disaster relief operations where I’ve hugged people of all types, and mostly strangers, Jane’s instruction registered deep in the reptilian part of my brain. My rigid self melted. My heart warmed. Conversation lifted. We became immediate friends. I left the party a different person. The cold winter air felt frosty only on the outside. Inside, I was delighted because people like Jane, people willing to risk closeness with the largely unfamiliar, exist.

In 2011, following a devastating tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Georgette Evans, who walked miles to find medical services and safe shelter following the devastating tornado, visits with to Lynette Nyman in Alberta City neighborhood. Photo credit: Dennis Drenner/American Red Cross
In 2011, following a devastating tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Georgette Evans, who walked miles to find medical services and safe shelter following the devastating tornado, visits with to Lynette Nyman in Alberta City neighborhood. Photo credit: Dennis Drenner/American Red Cross

So, this year I’m taking on one New Year’s resolution: to hug you like I know you. I encourage you to do the same. And if, like me, you need practice, serving with the Red Cross is a great way to get it.

Happy New Year!

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