I have a friend who often talks about a need -- palpable, physical -- to be hugged or touched. I haven't understood that, being someone generally uncomfortable with physical displays of affection, especially in public. I have to really trust someone before I'm comfortable allowing them into my personal space, and there aren't that many people I truly trust. In fact, I'd say I have a slightly more exaggerated sense of personal space than many Americans. Stand back and give me more than the average 18 inches, please.

In crowds, especially indoors, I experience an anxiety almost like claustrophobia. I feel hemmed in. I get hot. I can't breathe. The desire to get outside, away from the throng of people, overwhelms me. I like open spaces and solitude, or small groups of people at best.

But what I have come to understand about my friend is her need to connect. I just do it with words. There are days I sit at my desk and feel like I could crawl out of my skin because I just want to talk to someone, to know that someone is listening and someone cares. To know that I matter. It is almost a physical craving, not to be touched -- although sometimes I think I could welcome that -- but simply to connect. Just connect. I realized recently that's one reason I write this blog, in the hopes that someone out there is reading and that maybe, even for a split second, I'll be able to connect.