And then they discovered snuggletarianism and it was gooood! -Mike 4:16

     What is snuggletarianism you might ask?  It’s a lovely “religion” of sorts that we invented upon discovering just how much we enjoyed snuggling one another. A religion that we have become very devout to!  You see, that’s because something very profound happened to us the evening of our first date.  Not just that we had fun at dinner, or enjoyed each others company and conversation for hours, or that we had experienced wonderful “all that jazz” into the wee hours of the morning.  You see, when it came time for us to actually sleep we cuddled up with one another in a classic spooning position and something mysterious, magical and frankly quite out of the ordinary happened. That something was that we totally fell asleep!! This is monumental because as Nancy and I later discussed she was as much of an independent sleeper as I was.  In fact the next morning we both commented that traditionally neither one of us could stand cuddling and could not wait to roll on over to our own cozy corner of the bed and slumber free of any sort of encumbrance.

     The exact reasons as to why neither one of us had experienced the shear comfort and relaxation we experienced that night we can only speculate about.  Was it that the difference in our heights allowed us to fit just right, was it that just the right pillow placement had occurred, or was it proper positioning of the moon and stars?  Who knows and who cares, we had both discovered something wonderful in each other that we had never has the pleasure of experiencing before.   Needless to say we came to the conclusion that we had just plain found the right person to snuggle up to.

     From that fateful day on we have not wavered from our devout following of the snuggletarian way. In fact we attend services whenever possible!  A soothing hug before heading off to work, a re-energizing hug after a long or difficult day. A spoon or even a reverse spoon at night, in the morning, or any ol time.  Then there is the one we like to call the “enhanced” snuggle which, though I won’t go into explicit detail, transitions into some very intimate couple time lets just say.  So if you’re lucky enough to have found your cosmic cuddler take that as a VERY positive sign that the person you have discovered might just be a a great fit for you….LITERALLY!  I’m pretty darn sure neither one of us had ever said to ourselves – hey, I want to find my snuggletarian soul mate – but if we knew then what we know now we just may have.

     We believe the benefits we experience from the closeness we share in our snuggletarian ways are many and can be felt beyond the time we share together but reather throughout our entire day.  Sometimes it seems as though we can feel every muscle relax when we cuddle or snuggle and I’m thinking it might even be lowering our blood pressure at the same time.  But you don’t just have to take my word for it because I discovered that in Santa Monica, California can be found the “Cuddle Santuary” and its founder Jean Franzblau which provides a fun and social place for people to give and receive healthy touch. She notes, “I found that when my needs for cuddling were met, I felt better in all areas of my life.” and where the philosophy “that we all deserve healthy, human touch” is very alive and well.  Jean’s website provides tools and guidelines for an array of cuddle experiences as well as the opportunity to learn the many benefits of being a cuddler / snuggler.  Who knew there was a place where professional cuddlers could be found?! Nancy and I blissfully found this out on our own but its nice to see that we aren’t the only ones who have made this wonderful discovery.  Personally I think the world could stand to benefit from this kind of thinking for sure, especially these days.

When all is said and done I guess my point to this post is that if you are lucky enough to find a special someone that can take the stress of the world away with a simple yet meaningful cuddle or snuggle then you have found something very special indeed.  In a world where “red flags” are all to commonly found in the dating pool, we believe if you happen to discover your cosmic cuddler that this is a giant “green flag”.  Just plain slowing down the world for a few minutes or more a day can really make a difference in a relationship.

–Mike