Hug your babies, even if they are bigger than you!

I have a child (middlest) who is 4 inches taller than me. She also is my most affectionate. I will be cooking dinner & suddenly feel long arms drape across my shoulders & a chin resting on my head, dead weight outweighing me by about 10 lbs. On the couch watching TV she will stretch out alongside & snuggle her head on my shoulder & wrap her arms around my waist. Reading she will sit opposite & rest her legs on top of mine. She will climb into bed & watch a movie insisting on sharing the pillow. Fact 1: I usually cannot breathe. Fact 2: I will die of suffocation before I move. She is 16 years old. And this is a precious gift.


My biggest is grown but I always get a hug when I see her. I am thankful that this one made it to adulthood alive & the fact the I can reach out & touch her & say "see you later sweetheart" may seem like a casual thing but is a blessing beyond all my hopes a few years ago.
Thankfully my Littlest at 14 has grown out of a long "don't touch me phase". Even as a baby she would get squirmy & seemed like she felt claustrophobic if she was confined. She will snuggle now & then too but her favorite approach is a sneak attack. When you least expect it she will fly out of nowhere with a bone crushing clutch & lift you off the ground. I am exactly the same size as her but she does it to her bigger sister too & attempts it on her Dad . He lifts up on his toes so that she feels she's accomplished something. Frankly it's painful, but once again worth it as there were times I worried she was just a born cold person.She is not.
As I write this a 7 year old little girl in Florida did not come home from school 3 days ago. This is a horror beyond comprehension to a mother & is no less monstrous if they are 15 & disappear on purpose. I know. No matter how tired you are, no matter how awful they have been, no matter how huge, old or ornery they are, Hug your babies. Every Day.