Brain Flurries: There should be a lot of love in the air this month

February is filled with candy, romance and red hearts, no wonder it’s National Heart Month. If you want to do something healthy for a heart, give someone a hug. Preferably, someone you know. Hugs lower stress. They are good for the heart.

I hug my family, my friends, my neighbors, my mom’s friends, my mom’s neighbors and sometimes I hug (whisper) casual acquaintances and people I just met. They could be people I meet at restaurants, people I meet at the grocery store, friends at the Y and even the grocery store, fish guy. Yes, Walter, I’m talking about you.

Sometimes when I meet a friendly person, we might chat a few seconds and before we part, I hug them. What can I say? I’m a hugger. That’s what huggers do. And trust me, huggers know non-huggers when they meet them. I’ve met a few.

I come from a family of huggers. At family gatherings, we start saying our good-byes long before we leave. We go around and hug everyone and then we go around again. By the time we get back to the first person we hugged for the second time, they’re like, “You’re still here. I thought you left an hour ago.”

This would seem odd to a non-hugger. They wouldn’t understand this whole repetitive hugging thing. They’d be like, “See ya” and gone.

I love the fact that hugs boost the immune system. My hugging is justified. It seems like I’m all about health this year, doesn’t it? With all the endorphin stuff last month, now the hugs. I can’t help it, maybe love is in the air.

Do you know what else should be in the air today? A kite. Because today is Kite Flying Day. I can’t remember the last time I flew a kite. Every time I go to the beach, I see people flying kites. They make me want to fly a kite. I wish I had a heart kite to celebrate Valentine’s Day, but I don’t. I don’t have a kite.

But, you know what I do have, it’s something I have every February, it’s my corny little Valentine just for you:

Sending you a hug

With words that I write

And if that’s not enough

Go fly a kite.

This story was originally published February 5, 2017 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Brain Flurries: There should be a lot of love in the air this month."