Awkward hugging

Typical response I would get during a hug

For about half my life I didn't know how to properly hug a person (blame my parents).  Such an easy task right. NAAAAAH, it really wasn't. My folks aren't big with expressing love and how they are feeling. In fact, I don't even remember a time when I saw my parents hugging each other (weird). But, when I went in to give hugs for some reason my head would land on their chests and I would give the person an awkward squeeze along with a pat (shakes head what was I thinking). It wasn't until I got to college ( I think, only time I recall as of now) that my friends would make fun of me about it. Here I was thinking it was normal but I was dead wrong.  So lets back track, growing up I had a big issue with people invading my personal space. I just didn't like people coming in close contact with me with out my permission especially to give me hugs. But there would be times when I would let my guard down for a few minutes (due to excitement) and by chance let someone hug me, which then would result in the awkward hugging. I'm laughing as I write this now because it took me a while to get over the fear of letting someone get close to me. Sometimes I find myself cringing in anticipation of a hug from someone I am interested in after a date, because I think about what I use to do wrong in the past and really want to avoid repeating that bad behavior in that current situation.  Note to my future children: be prepared for random hugs from me, EVERYWHERE we go.