A beautiful reminder from Meg Van Rosendaal
Jim, I was in Bryant Park at the Christmas Market (sigh, I was in Bryant Park at the Christmas Market!) and stopped at a booth owned by a lovely Nepalese man. We chatted for 15 minutes, then he gave me a little wooden knife as a gift. "But I have nothing to give you!" I protested. He said "just give me a hug".
You know how when you go to hug someone, there's sometimes a slight hesitation while you try to sense which side that person hugs on? Well, there wasn't this time. He seemed surprised and asked "do you always hug left cheek to left cheek?" I said that was my instinct but most people do it the other way. Then he told me something that changed hugs for me forever. "In Nepal, we hug left cheek to left cheek, bodies close, so that your heart touches my heart."
I love it.
And though I'm in Tofino and you're in Muskoka, take this note as a hug heart to heart.