Love, Unspoken

I have very fond memories of my father, but none more sweet than the way he’d hold my hand. Whenever we’d hold hands to cross the street as a child, he’d give three short squeezes. I. Love. You. That gesture has stuck with me through adulthood.

My sister-in-law has a similar gesture she does with my niece. She’ll point to her eye, then her heart, followed by a quick point to her daughter. I. Love. You.

My husband and I have sort of our own communication when it comes to saying, “I love you” without saying one word. We spent years as a couple on very different work schedules. He’d be getting up to head to the office at a normal hour of 8 or 9 a.m. and I’d still be dead to the world, since I wouldn’t come home until about 11:30 or almost midnight the night prior. In the morning, he’d rouse me with a brief kiss on my forehead. Instead of even responding, I’d put my hand across my heart and open it up to him after, as if to say, “You have my heart, today (and always).” If we travel separately, we always do this before getting on a flight. And I’ve done it several times while doped up heading into surgery. It’s our own language, in which you don’t say one word, but say so much.

And right now, with this baby in my belly, we already have an unspoken love language. Lately, our favorite activity is for me to laugh and then for her to kick, which ultimately makes me laugh more and her kick more. We could do this game all day long. I’d like to think it’s our own endearing language of letting the other know we’re around.

Do you have an unspoken way to tell someone “I love you?”

Image: Courtesy of the most gorgeous website that I cannot read a single word, coolandbello.co.il