Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Well, we each have different ones. Mine is acts of service. His is words of affirmation. We both agree on quality time and physical touch. Gifts are nice but not a big deal to either of us. I make sure I give him the words he needs. Conversely, he makes sure he does the acts of service I need.
I think the key is figuring out what the other person needs and then how you can give it to them, and vice versa (obviously it doesn't work well if you're not both doing it). I grew up in a household where we said I love you a lot and we definitely say that in our house now and I don't think it's meaningless but it's something I'm just used to (and maybe take it for granted a bit?). My parents both worked (lawyer and accountant) when I was growing up, so time was a precious commodity, and they both made an effort to spend time with each other and with us kids engaging in acts of service, and I think that's why I like that language.
My husband's household had a verbally abusive dad and an emotionally abusive mom, so he got basically nothing but really just wanted someone to say they loved him. After a year of us dating he said my dad had told my husband he loved him more times in that year than his dad had said in his entire life. So those words mean a lot to him because he didn't have them growing up. To me they're important but expected, which is why I have a different language. But we're both happy to give the other what they need.
+1. Same. You articulated this well. Do you ever resent your DH's family?
This is so interesting! My husband's parents were immigrants who worked all the time, and his love language is quality time. He feels loved when I go to Home Depot with him so he doesn't have to go by himself. He feels exploited and unloved when I don't join him out in the yard when he's doing yard work. The language he uses to show love is acts of service, which isn't my preferred language but I understand it now. When I had to leave town to take care of a very ill parent, I came back to see that he had replaced all the flooring on the first floor of our summer house. At some point I figured out that he'll usually fix something, etc. as a way of making up after a fight -- and once I started a fight just to see if he'd put together that whole pile of Chinese furniture in boxes sitting in the front hallway for a week or so. And yeah, it worked!
My parents never praised us, or touched us, for that matter -- so I am a sucker for words of affirmation and physical touch. I also tend to give people words of affirmation which freaks people in my extended family out. I recently told my elderly mother that I was proud of her for how well she was adjusting to assisted living, and she just laughed at me. (I am convinced that both of my parents literally have no love language, either for receiving or giving love. Is that possible?)