Topic Posted by: Calliope
Date Posted: Wed Nov 4 11:04:17 2009
Additional Comments: A couple of years ago I was visiting my sister in Texas (I'm from Georgia). We decided to go to a huge flea market a couple of hour's drive from her house. It was in the middle of nowhere Texas. As we were walking through a large building with concrete floors, my sister suddenly fell forward, hit her head on the floor and started having seizures. She'd never had seizures before and I freaked out. I screamed for help and for someone to call 911. An angel appeared out of nowhere and took over. She was a nurse who was visiting the flea market on her day off. She ordered someone to call 911, took care of my sister until the ambulance got there and calmed me down. My sister was taken by ambulance to a hospital in a town I never heard of. This angel nurse had me follow her car in mine all the way to the hospital (a twenty minute drive). When we reached the hospital she said she had to leave, but not to worry, my sister was in good hands. I grabbed that good woman and hugged her with all my might. I am not a demonstrative person, so this was a big deal for me. She left before I even thought to get her name. It turned out that my sister had had a bad reaction to a medication she had taken. After a couple of days in the hospital, she was fine. So, have you ever been inspired to hug a perfect stranger, and if so, why? Calliope
Posted by: ML Date posted: Thu Nov 5 12:15:17 2009
Message: Ditto to Sparky...wakes are good places to make new huggers...
There's a nut who drives around in a motorized wheelchair around here and terrorizes anyone in a car. He apparently has decided that he has the right to drive where he wants when he wants...and he doesn't give a damn about traffic laws or signs or signals or anything. He usually drives down a main drag on the yellow line...I think he's got a death wish. I've written about him before...I've had a couple of run-ins with him...
Anyway, he's taken it upon himself to be the Caped Crusader when it comes to handicapped parking. He keys people's cars if they don't have a sign, and he attacks them verbally as they get into and out of cars. The cops have been called on him a zillion times.
I was walking toward BJs one day, and he was screaming and cursing at some old lady as she got out of her car. She was trying to explain something to him, and he just went off. I walked up to her, put my arm around her, and led her into the store. She was shaking like crazy...So I told her that he's a nut and not to try to engage him in any conversation. I finally calmed her down, and she hugged me and thanked me for helping her (big deal...I walked her in). Then she went looking for the store manager...I'm betting they called the cops again.
Posted by: Sparky Date posted: Wed Nov 4 18:58:45 2009
Message:
Yeah, yesterday and today I hugged soooo many people that I never met before. Yesterday was my MIL's wake and around 400 people came. Apparently the receiving line was 90 minutes long. Omigosh! People were so chatty!!! Out of all of those people, I had probably met maybe 20 or 30 of them before...and that's only because they are either related to PB or were at our wedding. Some of the guests were choked up by the time they got to me (undoubtedly from standing in line so long) that they were sobbing and I was the one consoling them.
Oh, and I did my good deed yesterday. MOTY came and she said how ovarian cancer is such a hateful disease. Well, her mom died from ovarian cancer 3 years ago and MOTY's mom and PB's mom both received their first ovarian cancer diagnosis at about the same time and went through chemo together. So, when MOTY approached me in the receiving line, I told her that we had been remembering her mom a lot lately. MOTY completely lost it and started sobbing. So I gave her a long firm hug until she was able to regain control. I'm sure the girls looked over and wondered why I was hugging their mom for so long.
Posted by: Kerston Date posted: Wed Nov 4 16:58:05 2009
Message: wow. OK, this is weird. The day of my fire Jan 8th 1987, I was running back up the driveway with my mom and I was barefoot since I had to run out of a burning house in my PJ's. Out of nowhere, a lady (said she was a neighbor) was trying to hold me and put her shoes on MY feet! I was hysterical. So I don't know what happened after that. But I do recall her arms around me trying to help.
~Kat
Posted by: AngelVine Date posted: Wed Nov 4 16:08:17 2009
Message: I've done so several times...a lot more lately. Blessings have really come my way lately and I've just felt moved to do so. That's such a good thing, IMO. Glad your sis is okay. :-) ((HUGS)) ~av
Posted by: Lisa P Date posted: Wed Nov 4 14:25:06 2009
Message: I hug people all of the time. Since becoming a victim advocate I'll have people come up and hug me whom I have never met before. I am a hugger so it does not bother me. I don't find it strange either. Maybe it's due to the work that I perform each day.
Posted by: Paulsmom Date posted: Wed Nov 4 11:57:53 2009
Message: Well, lots of times I go to yard sales and well, with my talky personality, I strike up a conversation and develop a rapport with some of the people having the yard sale. Sometimes they give me stuff (and NO I don't talk to them so that they will give me stuff. I'm just a talky person!) or we get to talking about something that is common to both of us and at the end I'll say, ''Can I hug you?''
And of course, being the South, we all hug.
