Hugs All Around

It's been a week full of depressing and aggravating news. I figure it's time for a feel-good story that will remind us there are still wonderful people out there.

She’s Hugged Over 500,000 Soldiers. Now They’re Saying ‘Thank You’ in a Special Way

Elizabeth Laird is known to most soldiers simply as “the Hug Lady.” For nearly 12 years the 83-year-old has been greeting deploying and returning soldiers at Fort Hood. She is often the last civilian to see them off and the first to welcome them home.

It all started with handshakes, but then one day a soldier coming through wanted a hug. And then they all wanted hugs. Laird says that since that day, she has probably hugged over 500,000 soldiers...

But recent events have made it impossible for Laird to be where she’d like to be, greeting soldiers at the airport: she’s been hospitalized since early November due to the breast cancer she has been fighting since 2005. It was her fear that the hugs had come to an end.

When word got out that Laird could no longer bring the hugs to them, though, soldiers began to take the hugs to her...

The “Hug Lady” even received a letter from former President George W. Bush thanking her for her dedication to American soldiers:

Good for George Bush. Good for every soldier who has repaid her hug. And good for us that we can have our spirits lifted by such a special lady.