Hello, friends,
Linking up with Jen at The Bolin Bunch for 10 Ways to Show Someone You Love Them: 10 on the 10th. Today we are sharing ways to demonstrate our love.
As I do with almost everything, I probably overthought this a bit. But that’s the way I roll. Couldn’t decide if we were sharing ways WE demonstrate our love or ways that people, in general, demonstrate their love. Since I can’t really speak to how everybody else exemplifies love, I’ve decided to just share what I know firsthand.
10 Ways to Show Someone You Love Them
Going to divide this post into 2 parts. Into ways my daughters and I show love to one another and then ways PC and I demonstrate our love for each other.
Three Girls Together
When my girls were young, we had little ways of saying “I love you” without words. Here are a few of the things we did to show our love.
- Squeeze each other’s hands. If we were some place where we couldn’t speak aloud like a theater, church, or concert, we would squeeze each other’s hands to say “I love you.” Sometimes just crossing the street.
- Knock on the wall or the ceiling. In the house where my daughters grew up, their bathroom was directly above mine. When one of the girls was in their bathroom above, I would knock on the wall or ceiling of my bathroom below – ‘tum tum te dum dum’ … to which my babies would knock back ‘tum tum’.
- I used to leave love messages on the girls mirror in the bathroom written in lipstick or liquid eyeliner. Sometimes it was just a lipstick kiss, other times an ‘I love you’ and occasionally a gentle reminder about something.
- Lauren once gave me such a terrific bear hug in a McDonald’s parking lot in Houston, that now days when I want a repeat, I ask for a McDonald’s hug. Mommies need hugs, too.
- Brennyn calls me, texts me, messages me every single day, if for nothing more than to tell me she loves me and we have an on-going conversation between the three of us in a What’s App chat entitled “Three Girls Together on the Boom-Boom”. That is what we also called ourselves “Three Girls Together on the Boom-Boom” or “Three Girls Together” for short.
The Prince and I
There are ways my PC and I demonstrate our love for one another. In some ways, we are very different in this department. My love language is a combination of words of affirmation and physical touch, with spending time together coming in at the top, too. My Prince feels best loved when I spend quality time with him. I like PDAs, Paul not so much. Here are some ways we meet in the middle.
- We take turn leaving love messages on this little board I made, here. I keep this framed message board in our master bathroom and reading those love notes is a special way to start each day.
- We share the work load at home. There are chores I do the majority of the time and chores that PC does the majority of the time but we help each other. I do just about all of the cooking but my Prince Charming is always quick to offer to pick something up for dinner or to help clean up the kitchen when I have cooked. We both fold the laundry. I mow the front yard, he mows the back and uses the weed eater while I sweep everything up. But we don’t give 50-50 to our relationship, we both give 100%.
- I attend baseball games and he goes with me to I Painted That! And we have lots of fun. Relationships are give and take. All about compromise. And wanting to do things that make your partner happy.
- We’ve given each other gifts of time but also special presents. Trips, jewelry, memory-making adventures here at home, swords and rings.
- Not long after we started dating, maybe 6 months in, PC and I were wandering around in the mall. We wound up in Dillard’s, which is a store I generally can’t afford to shop. We both share a love of shoes…he likes tennis shoes of all sorts and I am not the least particular – boots, flats, heels. When we came to the shoe department, my Princey-poo invited me to pick out a pair of shoes I would never buy for myself. A kind of extravagant pair. I picked out these strappy green sandals with a little bling that, at the time, was a stretch for me. I haven’t had a lot of occasion to wear these shoes but could never part with them because they were such a special gift.
I need to come up with the perfect outfit for these flirty, sassy shoes and wear them more this spring.
Your Turn
How do you show your love to those you care about most? Do you have a secret handshake kind of like my hand squeezing I do with Brennyn and Lauren? Would love to hear in a comment below. And then be sure to run by Jen’s blog to read her post and check out everyone who linked up for 10 on the 10th this month.
Come back on Tuesday for a new soup recipe, gals. Mmm, mmm, good!
Family hugs,
Dara
These are great. I love how many little ways you and your daughters have to show each other love!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, how I love my babies. Even if they are in their 30s!!!
Carrie @ Curly Crafty Mom
This is such a sweet post. Loved reading it. I love how PC got you those special shoes and I would never part with them either. That green would be fabulous soon once Spring gets here. That is nice that you both do chores around the house 50-50. My husband is good about picking up something for us if I’m not feeling like cooking, etc. I love that you cut the grass! I have never done that, but I did change my own wiper fluid the other day when Brian was out of town and that was a first for me too and I felt pretty good about figuring it out (and it was so easy, not sure why I didn’t learn how to do it sooner!). I like that you and your daughters have a nickname for each other and those boards that you and PC write little notes on to each other.
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Look at you changing your wiper fluid!! I am impressed. I am not sure I would know how to do that. Used to get on my roof when I was a single mom to repair the shingles because I sure couldn’t afford a new roof!! Do you have nicknames for your babies and Brian? I call Paul pollywog or P-Wog if I am thinking ‘rapper’. He isn’t exactly the hip-hop rapper type, though!
Laura
We do a hand squeeze too! Except we do it 3 times (for I-Love-You) and then the other person squeezes back 4 times (I-Love-You-Too). We also use the ASL sign for Love so we can tell each other from across the room that we love them. My oldest daughter has done it at concerts to us and her Preschool graduation as she crossed the stage. It’s so sweet!
Leslie Roberts Clingan
Oh, my gosh, how I love that Claire has used the ASL sign for love during her preschool graduation! Is that precious or what? I think maybe we squeeze each others hands 3 times, too. But hadn’t thought of doing 4 squeezes to include the word ‘too’. Think we will have to adopt that practice.
ShootingStarsMag
Aw, those shoes are such a cute gift. Definitely need to break them out for the Spring – it’s a perfect color for the season. I like all the little ways that you and your daughters show love to each other. That’s super sweet.
-Lauren
Leslie Roberts Clingan
I was a single mom for awhile which, I think, made my daughters and I much closer. I wouldn’t trade those tough but precious times for anything.
And now they are doing some of the same things with their babies. Warms my heart.
Kellyann Rohr
What a thoughtful post! I love that your PC had you pick out a pair of shoes! And I love that you picked out such a special pair! You’ll love them always! I have a pair of red heels I bought when we took a special trip to celebrate my 40th birthday. They were such a splurge for me $135 at Bloomingdale’s but I love them. Still do even though they aren’t as comfortable as they once were on my aging feet!
xo,
Kellyann