I am the "Hug Collector"

It is really simple why I call myself the HUG Collector. When our kids a young, I just love getting a big hug and even a kiss from them. As our boys grew older, all of a sudden, I found myself getting not quite that many hugs. It is perhaps a man thing in our culture that we don't hug much as we become more mature. Whatever the reason for my reduction of hugs might be, I found myself really missing them. So I started to institute a simple policy to collect a hug from our youngest boy Xander each day. Like the tax collector who collects taxes. Just like any "good" law makers (the tax collectors), my requirement for hug started to creep. Then I started to collect one hug a day from our middle boyTimothy as well. I guess I started that early enough, even though he is 12 now, he still automatically and habitually give me a hug whenever I hint at it.

That's how I become the "Hug Collector".

For a while, I was collecting a hug before I go to work, a bug when I get home and a hug before bedtime. That didn't last long because it was hard to enforce. Another variation I had was a usury clause. If they miss giving a hug, then it is 5 the next day. That is a bit harsh, isn't it? It was nice but it kinda dulls the fun of getting a hug, if he just stand there and counted 1, 2, ..., 6, open adn close his arm 6 times to give me a hug, and make up for the one from yesterday, that messed up even just that one hug now disguised as 6 hugs.

Well, just like everything, just keep it simple works the best. Now I just keep it one hug (minimum) a day. After seeing I collect hugs for these months and years, even my 14 year old Jonathan, who is as tall as me now, is pretty comfortable giving me hugs at various occasions. That was a wonderful bonus to have.