Sure. When I was a kid I had a mentally ill mom. She had a severe case of borderline personality disorder. I never found out for sure, but my therapist thought my mom had been abused as a girl growing up on a farm.

Anyway, she did not hug, kiss, or hold hands with me. I really wanted that badly. So I noticed that in church my mom was careful about how she acted because she worried about what other church folks would think of her. I took advantage. I figured she wouldn't want to be seen throwing my hand away from her in church the way she threw my hand away at home when I tried to hold hands with her.

So in church on Sundays I would sit next to my mom and I would hold her hand. It was the nicest thing about church for me, just to have hand holding from my mom once a week.

I think that it's normal to crave being cared for in a safe way......I think that's what me are meant to do and be..... Huge hug..... This is a good place to come for support...... xo