I submitted this essay as part of the common application for undergraduate admission.

 “Hug me!!” My first crush’s voice echoed in my head, her voice rippling across nearly six years of memories as I hugged my female companion. Warm and supple, our bodies coalesce. Our arms grasp us together, locking us in tender sensation. She may be just a friend, but I hug her tightly as we frolic in our sentimental garden. Every chance I get, I try to hug someone, drawing him or her into emotional content by arousing the comforts of physical touch.
 But when I was younger, I hugged for physical pleasure alone. I hugged because hugs felt good, and for no deeper meaning or reason than that. For me, emotion and body occupied two totally separate realms; I saw body as an individual’s connection to the exterior world, and emotions as a person’s disciplined reflection of that outside realm.
 I remember my first crush from sixth grade, a rather tall and somewhat talkative brunette. She was a cozy friend of mine, but she was my first love interest, so I didn’t have much of an idea of how to approach her. As vague notions of childhood romantics fluttered in my mind, I desired to connect with her in some way. I chose to sit near her in advisory class, hoping to find some point of relation. “Hug me!!” she once advised upon seeing me. Spontaneously, I hugged her.
 Shyly, I secure my arms around her, awaiting a response.
 Delighted, she squeezes me back.
 In the following months, my hormone inflated fixation dissipated, and she became just a friend to me again, but we remained close nonetheless. I can remember our parting hug on the last day of school.
 As I bathe in her embrace, my worries wash away. Her body snakes with mine, warming our pool of hearted felicity. Wrapped around each other and in our warmth, we melt into a puddle of cuddle, our own content paradise.
 As I soaked in my emotional luxury, I began to retrace and ponder this content that I had reached, hugging her closer. My comfort from hugging her grew and my emotions swelled, and I reveled in both. It soothed me that I was linked to my friend not only physically, but emotionally as well, and by satisfying this physical bond, I strengthened our emotional one.
 Until that hug with my friend, I had not realized that hugging others, mere physical touch, could benefit people emotionally. Even if body and emotion occupied separate realms, I could not deny that the body, as a person’s contact to the world, could be used to influence the world and thus how others feel. I came to realize that there are more ways to comfort people than just explicitly impassioned ones. Love knows no bounds, just people.