12.15.20 // touch

Touch.
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"To come into or be in contact with."
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We're creeping up on one year since physical touch was a normal part of the world.
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A year since deep hugs were greetings and goodbyes with friends. A year since first dates ended in hesitant first kisses. A year since a hand on a shoulder was an expression of support.
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I took it for granted, all of the physical closeness that so effortlessly kept us close to one another.
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6 months ago, I longed for physical closeness and touch because it was all I had known. For my 29 years of life, touch was the norm and I cried over the loss of it because I felt like change happened without my control. What I had known, was taken away, so I cried like a child who lost their ice cream to the sidewalk.
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Now, just a few months shy of one year mark, I still occasionally shed tears over the loss of physical touch.
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But those tears are reminiscent of how beautiful physical touch is and are tears of joy for the moment when those hugs, first kisses, and intentional touches of support can once again be a part of the world we know.