{"id":474,"date":"2024-11-12T17:33:58","date_gmt":"2024-11-12T17:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/?p=474"},"modified":"2024-11-12T17:33:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T17:33:58","slug":"spreading-hugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/?p=474","title":{"rendered":"Spreading Hugs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I was just reading a message from someone who had read my latest book. They were telling me how they had needed a laugh and I had provided that for them. They also said, if they could, they would give me a hug, too, for brightening their day and a thought struck me. I would really like to be able to hug each and every person who has read my books! Wouldn\u2019t that be great!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would be a crying, blubbering idiot but I\u2019d just like to hug each and every one of you because I know what you go through on a daily basis. The ups and downs of life get to us at times and there are those days we could all just use a hug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I can\u2019t be where each of you are, I had the idea of all of us identifying ourselves to each other out there. So here\u2019s what I thought about at 2 a.m. this morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Suppose each of us carries around our own copy of one of my books. Carry it face out so it\u2019s easy to identify. Then, whenever you see someone with it, you don\u2019t even have to say a word. Just walk up to that person and give them a hug! We\u2019ll all know why. Hugs are definitely needed in today\u2019s world. And who knows, someone who hasn\u2019t read the book might stop you and ask a question. You might be just the person they need to survive their own hell of a day and you could be just the person to give them a hug or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take copies wherever I go, and I try to leave copies in public places for others to find. I\u2019ve left copies on airplanes, at restaurants, doctors\u2019 offices, hospitals and as many places as I can because I know there are so many others out there who need to know they aren\u2019t alone and who just might need a laugh or two. They need to know there is someone out there in this world who cares. My hope is that others will do the same. Now I know at this point in some people\u2019s lives it\u2019s not affordable. But, I\u2019m hoping that when it is something you can afford to do, that you\u2019ll purchase extra copies and give them out to someone who just might need to know they aren\u2019t alone in their own private hell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be awesome to walk down the street, see someone walking toward you carrying a book you recognize and you both begin to smile as you hurry to get close enough to get a hug! Absolute awesomeness! Give them a hug!  Given them an extra hug and tell them it\u2019s from me! And, to anybody out there reading this who hasn\u2019t read any of my books, who happens to need a hug, if you see someone carrying around any of my books, walk up and talk to them and you might just get the hug you need<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was just reading a message from someone who had read my latest book. They were telling me how they had needed a laugh and I had provided that for them. They also said, if they could, they would give me a hug, too, for brightening their day and a thought struck me. I would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised","tag-spreading-hugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=474"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":477,"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474\/revisions\/477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maryfreemanboardman.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}