A hug

/ erichmichaels

I was holding my four-month-old son against my chest.  We were face to face and his little arms were slung around my neck.  I was swaying back and forth like we were dancing.

In the span of a second I felt his little arms tighten around my neck.  Now I know the legitimacy of whether this was a “real” hug or not could be argued, but in that moment it was real to me.  And, in that fleeting second, I felt all the future hugs I would receive from him for the rest of my life. It was the first link of a chain that would last throughout my days.

I’ve heard people talk about all things that have occurred in the past and all those things that have yet to come are all occurring simultaneously…just transdimensionally, and now I believe it. In that moment he hugged me for the rest of my life and I hugged all of his ancestors…those I’ve had the privilege of knowing and those I wish I had.

87 thoughts on “A hug”

  9. It’s amazing how those tiny little hugs are stronger than any other hugs. Hugs from my children, even now, drain any tension away, but nothing is so precious as the tiny hugs, from a child. He is beautiful.

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  15. Dude, that is beautiful. My boys are older now, 29 and 14, and I miss that stuff. If you’re careful you can tilt your head and fell the soft, pure baby skin against yours without waking them. It’s wonderful. I miss lying with my face almost touching theirs and breathing in the air they breathe out. I miss having a new baby…at least until it’s time to.sleep. sometimes even then.

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    • Whenever I think how I’d like him a little older…walking and talking, I see him do the smallest thing he hadn’t done before and I know I don’t wanna miss a thing–don’t grow up to quick my son!
      Sneaking in some cheek to cheek time is definitely something I enjoy 🙂

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  20. This is really awesome. I agree with you about all things happening at once and I think that moment of feeling all the hugs that are yet to happen…well, I feel choked up. Thank you for sharing.

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  29. Hi Eric, Thank you so much for your comment on my poem. I have myself been blessed with five children and two grand children, so I easily understand your writings on hugs. Parenting is a theme which I touch on in my first poetry book, The Little Purse of Verse. http://www.kipperhillpress.com in particular the realisation I almost lost my eldest, whilst he was attempting to rescue a stranger from the sea. Cherish every moment, their childhood passes, in the blink of an eye! This poem, was I believe the first which I ever wrote, without rhyming couplets.

    The Fine line.

    We never ever own our children, we bring them into the World,
    We do our best to raise them and set them sail on the oceans of life.
    Some, are no more than cast adrift, life isn’t easy for parent or child,
    But they always own their lives just as we bear ownership of our own.
    I have a hair-cut, pop in for a coffee and a scone then I’m gone,
    Up to feed Hermi, oblivious to the drama which has just unfolded.
    Just sixty miles down the coast, ‘a shout’ a call out, a response.
    Then home for lunch, read facebook learn, concern,
    Concern grows as all the facts become known.
    The fine line drawn in time differentiating survival from disaster.
    Why then, if we do not own, does our mind contemplate such horrific concept of ‘loss’.
    Had fate’s destiny lost the toss and outcome had fallen on the tragic side of that fine line.
    The heart can own, that to which it holds no title.

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    • I will definitely have to check out your book! I would be honored to. That must’ve been quite a powerful experience for you from the poem I am glad it turned out well and you should be proud to have raised a son who would risk his life to save another. Sometimes I think my son own me 😀

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  30. the theme of eternity like that has been visited in the book: “Slaughterhouse 5” by Kurt Vonnegut, where the hero meets aliens who live all moments of their lives simultaneously 🙂

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    • I read that book a year or so ago, so maybe it crept out of my subconscious from there. I love those kind of connections and how it illustrates how the mind works. Thanks for pointing that out. 😀

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    • They are the best! He’s gotten really good at it now. When I get home from work I run in the house and pick him up and he hugs me with intensity now. All my negativity from work drains right away. Thank you 🙂

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  40. The first time my son put his little arms around my neck and said, “I love you, mommy,” my heart actually liquified in my chest. It’s imprinted on my heart and I can feel it still. He’s a darling!

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    • That’s awesome! I’d like to say that I can’t wait for my son to start talking so he can tell me that but I don’t want to rush him into growing up. I don’t want to miss a minute or a milestone. 🙂
      Thanks for stopping in 😀

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