Holding Hands

I have never been big on public displays of affection, or private for that matter. And sometimes that makes me feel not only a bit out of place in a Mediterranean touchy-feely culture, but it may also make me come across as very rude and ungrateful. It sometimes bothers me, because people might get the wrong impression, but I still can’t help it. I can have very strong feelings about something and try my hardest not to show it, however, anyone who knows me will admit I am usually very clear when I don’t like something (doing something about it is a completely different matter) and I can imagine that must be quite difficult for other people. How can I be so indifferent and not express my opinions a bit more often, because I have them, believe me…

On the other hand, I don’t know how I would react if people around me acted as cold and stiff as I do. I’ve heard a friend tell me that I would not be able to deal with it because I’m so insecure that I would find difficult not having the constant reassurance of someone telling me what they think or hugging me or even just giving me an approving look, and it might be true, I just hope I don’t need that much reassurance to feel contented.

Thinking about all that, I remembered the anecdote someone told me a couple of months ago about sea otters holding hands. From what I could gather, they do it sometimes when they sleep to avoid drifting away. Excuse my ignorance but I had never heard of sea otters before, and I found the story very funny, even lame. On my usual expressionless tone, who cares about cuteness! But as it turns out, I was looking at a Facebook post by the same person, and I could not avoid aww-ing (probably not a word, just my own derivation of the expression aww!). They really are adorable!!!

To anyone suffering my apathy, I hope you can read between the lines, because there is something in here, I’m just not very good at showing it. And if I don’t like someone I don’t even make an effort to talk to them.