One day, my husband asked me to pick up some Post-It notes for him–a three-pak (I work at Wal*Mart, so I do the errands). Since he’s trying to juggle a full-time job, teach martial arts, and help me homeschool, I figured he just needed them to help him stay on top of things.
To my surprise, when I got home from work the next day (I leave for work at 2:30 a.m., four hours before he does) I was surprised to see a Post-It note on my mirror. Thinking he left me a reminder for something around the house, I looked at it and burst into tears. It read “I don’t tell you often enough how special you are to me. But from now on, I will.” And every day after that, when I got home from work, I’d head straight to the mirror to find my daily reminder. Sometimes it was a simple “I love you”, other times it’s a cheer-up message (as a wannabe writer, I need a lot of those, usually when the mail comes in with rejection slips), sometimes it’s a more fervent and poetic expression of his feelings.
Oh, this started over a year ago. Sometimes he’ll skip a day, if his morning is rushed, but almost every day, I get a little note. It beats a Hallmark, in my book!
And as for me (I do romantic stuff, too!), for his birthday and our anniversary and Father’s Day, I give him gift baskets I make myself. I fill it with stuff he REALLY likes, wants, or needs and wouldn’t normally buy for himself since we’re on a budget and usually forego a lot of “treats”, such as:
*a couple issues of his favorite martial arts magazines
*his favorite snacks, that no one else in the house cares for (beef jerky, sardines, fig newtons, etc.)
*a rented movie I know he’d love (even if it’s not my favorite)
*odds and ends he’s mentioned he needs (the keychain flashlight and the 3-inch C-clamps are still getting raves!)
Of course this means you have to LISTEN to what your spouse really likes and wants. Someone mentioned a manicure or pedicure. That’s great, but for me, a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble would be even better! Once he made arrangements for me to have a four-day weekend from work (talk about sneaky!) and whisked me off to a bed & breakfast in Chama, NM to catch the last train of the season on the Cumbres & Toltec Narrow Gauge Scenic Railroad (I mentioned wanting to do that “someday”). And once he called me out onto our deck (we live in the country) where he had a quilt spread out, a couple glasses of wine, and we lay on our backs and watched shooting stars and satellites for hours.
There’s a lot more things I could go on and on about (I used to have to watch my back at work since all the other women would be jealous if he called just to say “I love you” or stopped by if he was in the neighborhood… especially since he’d call out, “hello, beautiful!” or “Where’s my gorgeous wife?” so everyone could hear.)
Think I’ll go write HIM a note now!
Blue “still madly in love after 16 years of marriage” Rose
. I just love unexpectedly discovering them. Even if you can’t draw, you could leave something around as a corny surprise that both of you know is a personalized little sign of love from you. (Clothing drawers, visors, etc, are good places).
