Remember when you were a kid? You'd fall down, someone would be mean to you, or you'd break your favourite toy. It was like THE END OF THE WORLD, at least to an over-emotional kid like me. But for the most part, our knee jerk reaction was to burst into tears and run to Mammy for a hug, right? Parents had this knack for making everything better - I know that if I was a mum, screaming kids would wreck my head, but that never really seemed to happen with my mum - rather, she always, always made it better by hugging, kissing and cuddling Tiny Me.
For some reason, my intrinsic thought was that Hugs Just Make Things Better, along with soothing words and (in my dad's case) threatening to "fix" the perpetrators.
Fast forward ten years. I'm eighteen and I spend a lot less time falling down. Being mean to me will generally result in being screamed at and most of my dearest possessions are in less than three pieces. My love for affection, however, has remained. Physical affection is something most of us adore, but I'm the first to put my hand up and claim addiction. It doesn't have to be parental or romantic, I just love showing affection to my friends and family. I visit my granny once a week and I've never once forgot to hug her goodbye. I kiss one of my best friends (on the cheek!) for something as small as holding a book for me. I get comments all the time concerning Dave and affection, from my mum to my sister to people we went to the Gaeltacht with.
Affection comes in lots of forms - for instance, I know people who do kind things for people they like, or even just tolerate them, but that's as far as they go. In a way, the toleration or the nice gestures (ceetainly the latter) is affection, just in a more abstract sense. After all, who hasn't got the warm fuzzies after someone bought them something or lent them their French copy? As I've talked about before, those who are aloof people I admire, not only because of their infinite coolness, but the fact that they don't need to constantly prove how they feel about someone. That's just it, isn't it? For some reason, a lot of affectionate people feel the need to express how they feel about others. All the freaking time. I'll freely admit to this. Telling people that they're awesome makes me feel awesome, and though lately I've been getting a twist in my stomach thinking about being annoying, I generally assume that it makes them feel good too.
Speaking of twisting stomachs, lately I've started to think that, at eighteen, my affectionate nature just isn't cute anymore. In fact, in terms of romantic relationships, it's probably a little bit...well, can you say desperate? Luckily, I have a boyfriend who's (to quote) "very used to it" and doesn't mind my near-constant hugs and compliments. Still, I'll admit, my nature has started to plague me. I've been able to scale back (somewhat) with my friends - sixth year and all that - but in a way it's repressing myself, and shouldn't I be able to be Born This Way? I guess not. I guess there's a line between cute and annoying, and my nature stands astride that fine line.
What do people think? Is affection overrated or integral to, well, being human?
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