Well, I also grew up in a household devoid of affection. My parents never hugged or held me. My mother said "I love you" for the FIRST TIME EVER to me when I was 40.
My God, when you put a kitten or a puppy in someone's lap, the natural thing to do is pet it! I think you have to consciously resist doing that! But I guess that's what my mother did when she bottle-fed me by taking the bottle out of the refrigerator and propping it-- ice-cold-- on my stomach. She and my father used to get a kick out of telling this story. "Well, she didn't seem to mind!" they would say of me. Yikes!
