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Thursday, May 31

Day 152: A Hug So Hard it Almost Hurts

You know that excitement when you plan something far in advance and you have to wait and wait for the day to arrive? Time seems to stand still and it seems like the thing you are waiting for remains far in the distance. Well, that day has finally come. This anticipation has been gnawing at me for months now. It is like the final spring blossom that you've watched and watched, waiting for it to burst open, and suddenly it's just there! Showing all it's glory to the world.

We have some friends coming from Texas to visit us for a couple of weeks and they arrive today. In fact the plane should be landing in just over an hour. So exciting! I am sitting here at work, trying not to watch the clock. Just a couple more hours and I can scurry home on my bike, hopefully without getting rained on. The weather man predicted scattered showers today around the time I will be commuting home and I'm counting on them being scattered elsewhere at that time.

My father-in-law sometimes tells my husband on the phone, "give your wife a hug from me and hug her so hard, it almost hurts." Sometimes when I get excited with the anticipation of seeing friends I haven't seen in a while I do just that. As you can see from the photo below, I started this practice early. I am the one in the yellow dress, if you were uncertain. I was so excited to see my friend I would run to her and squeeze her tightly. She says she used to cringe in anticipation of my hugs because she knew one was coming. And it hurt. It's supposed to hurt, silly. Well, that is how hard I want to hug our friends who are coming today. Posted by Grace Ann Ekström at 11:25 AM