Skin hunger is very real. Very real. I know it and chances are you know it too! It's that undying need for physical human contact. Especially skin to skin contact. Touch. The body somehow knows it's been a long time since we had this. And through the body the heart knows. The mind knows. The soul even knows it's far too long since you're body has known the warmth and delight of another person's touch. The pandemic didn't help the situation much. The divisive nature of today's society wasn't much of an improvement. Technology, long reviled as a culprit in the demise of in person interpersonal relationships, ended up becoming a lifeline for connection. But what about the touch?
My skin is so hungry for the thrill and the comfort of physical sensory affection. The absolute deliciousness of a good spooning, a nice long hug, a massage, hand holding, playing footsie, nuzzling, running fingers through hair, faces caressed. The menu is so tantalizing, but there are no waiters in this restaurant, No cooks in the kitchen, No outside dining even. If touch were a restaurant, it would have to be take-out. But in the end I go home to bed alone. My skin hunger not fed. Technology can save our friendships (when they are not destroying them) and keep us talking to one another it seems after all, but it can't replace the embrace of a loved or caring person in your life. That first person shooter you are playing may be loads of fun, but it's not nearly as fun as lying next to someone with your limbs wrapped around them, giggling, tenderly squeezing each other and resting your head on your bodies. As good as virtual reality games are, they can't replicate the magic of the palm of someone's hand gently brushing your cheek just yet.
Tonight it's very apparent how long it's been. I've sent out the message to one of the few in person professional cuddlers still out there holding down the fort. She heeds my message, but I must wait until the day comes that I may see her and partake of all this yummy magic of touch and playfulness. I wait alone in my own hungry skin, just as I had waited years before in solitude waiting for the first moment of physical affection and companionship to happen in the real world and not just in some movie or video game or in my imagination. Maybe you have been waiting a long time too. Does your skin speak to you? What does it say? What could it use right now?
-The Ghost In The Armor
Comments