Hug Well: Delhi Man's Post About His Wife's Final Goodbye Moves Internet

In an era of fleeting gestures and digital interactions, a heartfelt LinkedIn post by a Delhi-based advertising professional has touched the hearts of netizens. Prathap Suthan, a professional in advertising, shared a deeply moving personal story titled “Hug Well,” recounting the last embrace he shared with his wife before she passed away.

The post, now widely circulated across social media, begins with a quiet but powerful recollection:

“I remember the last hug my wife gave me. It was that morning, just before we left for the hospital. For me, it was another morning hug. I wanted her to feel my love, my warmth, my hope. I also wanted her to know we would come back home together. But for her, though I understand it only now, it was something else. It was the quiet, moist hug of someone who knew she wasn’t coming back. The deep embrace of someone saying goodbye—not for a while, but forever.”

Suthan’s words struck a universal chord, articulating a kind of grief few dare to name but many have felt. “That is a hug no one prepares you for,” he wrote. “It is a hug I will carry for the rest of my life. No other embrace will ever come close.”

The post unfolds into a soulful connection on hugs—those ordinary, often overlooked gestures that silently bear the weight of love, loss, reunion, and survival. He describes the emotional layers behind embraces shared by an ageing father and his children before departure, a mother hugging her child at the train station before they head off to war, and lovers reunited after long separations. He also highlighted the emotional intensity in hugs shared between migrant workers and their mothers, between colleagues who’ve saved a struggling business, or between a disaster survivor and the one who waited.

Suthan further delved into the deeper human need for touch—a need increasingly lost in modern world.

“We live in a world that rushes past touch,” he shared. “We hide behind screens and avoid closeness. But we are made to hold and be held, to carry and to be carried.”

Suthan concluded his post with a gentle reminder:

“If you’re lucky enough to hold someone today, hold them like you understand what it means. Because sometimes, the only thing keeping us whole is the memory of the one who once held us, just before they let go.”

The Story Of Longing & Loss

Netizens took to social media to express how deeply they resonated with Suthan's post. Some spoke of their own grief after losing a loved one, while others reflected on how the modern world seems to have lost empathy and seems devoid of emotions.