I attended a young woman’s graduation from Blaine High School. Most of my graduation ceremonies have been at Sleepy Eye’s schools. The two experiences were different. A lot.

On Sunday, May 31, three high schools from the Anoka-Hennepin school district took turns having their ceremony in U. S. Bank Stadium at two-hour intervals. Blaine was in the middle, at 1 p.m.

Hailey was among about a thousand graduates down on the football field. There were maybe 10,000 friends and relatives in the stadium bowl on that side. We were all looking for glimpses of our graduates on the giant scoreboard. As names were read, little cheers erupted in the stands for each.

Before and after the ceremony, the grads and their supporters milled about on the large plaza outside. It was a wonderful assemblage of people of all ages and colors and dress. Some groups were loud and singing for their graduate. Others huddled in small circles.

In this crush of people that was larger than my hometown, the one constant was hugging. Hugs were everywhere, hugs with laughs, hugs with tears, hugs with whispers. This old farmer guy even joined in the hugalooza.

Flash back 52 years to my graduation at Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Church. I’m pretty sure it was hug-free. We had a family gathering after that on the farm. My family was loving and warm. We just didn’t hug.

I’m not sure if that was a cultural thing.

Did German Bohemian descendants not hug going back to the old country?

Was that a small town or farm phenomenon in the middle of last century?

I suppose I thought of hugging certain girls then, but certainly not my parents Sylvester and Alyce.

Somewhere in college, I started to hang around with people who hugged each other. Maybe they were from different ethnicities or bigger cities. I remember thinking this was strange at first. In time, it became a natural way to say goodbye to someone I wouldn’t see for a while or to greet someone I hadn’t seen in a while.

It took a while to reach a comfort level with this new relational tool. At first, positioning of arms and torso took some thought. You don’t want to knock the other person down, but you don’t want to seem stand-offish. It is a skill I haven’t quite mastered, but I’m better now.

Once hugging becomes an option, there are those sometimes-awkward moments where one must decide if a strong, hearty handshake or a bear hug is called for. Occasionally, one leads to the other. This can be an important guy moment. It can even escalate to a brief wrestling match, which indicates real guy-love.

Looking back at parenting three children, snuggling comes with the early years. You’re holding them anyway, so it is a type of permanent hug. Gradually you let them go. Here is the metaphor for your kid growing up, leaving your arms, and eventually your home. Those of us who’ve had kids can get teary-eyed quickly thinking about that.

We don’t remember being small children ourselves being held. There is somewhere a picture of my mom in a 1950s farm woman dress holding a one- or two-year-old me in front of our house. As I said earlier, I don’t remember hugs in our house as I got older. I felt loved and cared for, but no hugging. That was that era.

Hugging our own children was standard procedure. This was even as they grew into surly teenagers. Especially our son, they had ways of indicating discomfort with a parental hug. As they became adults, though, greeting and leave-taking hugs from their “elderly” parents are expected.

Now we have a grandson. Grandchildren are just made for hugging. I suppose someday he’ll be a surly teenager.

If you Google “Is hugging good for you?” a crazy number of positive articles appear. It turns out it’s not far behind exercise, nutrition, and not smoking among healthy habits.

This from the website Healthline: “Hugging can reduce stress, support immune function, and may help lower blood pressure and heart rate. Research suggests that hugging may help reduce pain, improve sleep quality, and increase happiness.”

These outcomes are connected to oxytocin and serotonin. Those are hormones that are released by our brain during good physical touch. The longer the hug, the more of these “love hormones” that are released.

There are no specific references to hugging in the Bible. But there is touching and physical contact, as would be true for any group of people who have lived in history.

Jesus took the children in his arms and blessed them. His healing ministry included touch and laying of hands. In John 13:23, we are told, “Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.”

I think in our darkest moments, and we all have them, we imagine Jesus holding us, as we cry or tremble or whatever.

I’m tempted to close here with an exhortation to go out and hug someone today. But I realize I need to be careful in encouraging exuberant behavior. This column has tens of readers after all.

The legal department here at the newspaper wouldn’t want me to be responsible for a wave of hugging across southern Minnesota. People could be injured in the excitement to hug all their friends and family, even co-workers.

So don’t overdo it. Remember, we are Midwesterners.

— Randy Krzmarzick farms on the home place west of Sleepy Eye, where he lives with his wife, Pam.