UPDATE:  Okay, I’m posting this a 2nd time because there’s a few people who read it that overlooked that this was a *Reader Submission*… and thought this entry was about me.  Thankfully, my partner and I are still together inching close to a 20 year relationship. Thank you for your concern. I simply felt this was a powerful contribution that others would appreciate.  

Below is a contribution from a Facebook Friend about Connections… and the Power of Cuddling.   This was a very personal experience for him.  I appreciate him sharing it with me and hope it inspires others.

13 Lessons from 2013
Lesson Two: Making A True Connection With Another Person Is Better Than Sex (or Cuddling Is Awesome)

When “Mike” and I split earlier this year, I found myself facing something that I never even realized would bother me. Sleeping alone. We’ve been together for 10 years, and lived together for more than 8 of them. I had not really lived with any previous boyfriend before, and it took some adjustment, having someone else in my bed in the early part, but then I got used to it, then I grew to enjoy it, then I grew to take it for granted. And even if he was out of town or something, there was always a sense of presence in the bed. And then it was gone. We lived together in the same house for several months after the break up as I looked for a new place, and though he was never very far away in his bedroom, there was a difference.

There will be another lesson that deals more directly with what I learned from the break up, but overall it was fairly respectful, which is not to say that it didn’t get emotional at times. During one of these times, one of my friends offered to let me sleep over at his place just so I could get out of the house. So we laid there in his bed, him holding me and me holding him. And I cried. I ugly cried. The kind of cry you only do when you’re by yourself don’t even want to look at a mirror. And all this time he just held me and stroked my back until I was able to calm down. The connection I felt was stronger than anything I’ve experienced from just physical sex alone.

So I’ve come to appreciate the depth and strength of the connection that can be formed simply by being with another person. To share an intimate and honest moment without judgment and without it being a burden. Not that I’m suddenly down on sex. Sex is awesome. But I’ve come to appreciate it more as a means to the end of connection, rather than it and unto itself.