Hi Folks:

Last year we were feeling pretty avant garde in having our first Free Hugs session on April 1. We did our last 2017 session on December 10, completing 19 rounds of hugging! Well, Easter is on April 1 this year (which really has us wondering what the Easter Bunny is going to get up to this year, but that’s another topic). Anyway, last weekend was so warm and beautiful we did our first 2018 hugging session on March 10!

This begins our ninth year of hugging Victorians and people from around the world. To the best of our knowledge we’ve hugged people from 62 countries so far, including ambassadors from 32 countries in 2017. In our first session this year we hugged people from four countries, including a woman from Brazil who was celebrating her birthday! We also had some repeat business! One was a shared hug with a man who “Hugs us every time he sees us” and there was a couple visiting from Alberta who hugged us about 1½ years ago! The next time we see them their twosome will be a threesome, so congratulations to them!

We’ll be out at the Homecoming Statue at Ship Point in Victoria’s Inner Harbour as often as our schedule and the weather allows. If you see us, feel free to drop by for a hug, handshake, high-five, or just to say hello (we also answer a lot of questions for visitors to our fair city). We offer, but we rely on those who are interested to come to us. Those who aren’t interested pass by with only a welcome greeting from us. And if you’re in a vehicle or across the street we also enthusiastically accept air hugs (from non-drivers), honks, bicycle bells, cheers and waves!!

Remember to hug someone you love today. Or a stranger. Or, preferably, both!!

Hugs,
M&M

Free Hugs, 2018