There are many ways to tell someone you love them

Have you ever seen love in action?  If you had been at my house today you would have seen it.  Gary Chapman talks about the 5 Love Languages in his book entitled the same.  He lists them as Physical, Verbal, Quality Time, Gifts, and my favorite, Acts of Service. This is a must read in my opinion but I digress. My family helped me deliver a surprise Act of Service Gift for my sick husband today on Christmas Day.

An Act of Service, as defined by Gary Chapman, is when you do something for someone to demonstrate your love for them.  Husbands who scrape their wives windshield on her car so she doesn't have to are practicing an Act of Service.  Wives who cook a meal for their family and have it ready when their hungry husband and kiddos get home are performing an act of service.

Today my family helped me rearrange the extremely heavy bedroom furniture that I bought at a steal off craigslist.  My husband has been really sick and we hadn't been able to enlist help for this project yet.  We did a little Christmas this morning for our family and then he and the baby went to Denver to be with Huy's family.  While he was gone we got to work.  With a little elbow grease and a huge brain teaser of a puzzle with the bed frame we got it all taken care of.  I was so relieved to have it all done and I knew Huy would be overjoyed to see it complete.

It looks fabulous.  Mom and Tracey even came by again this afternoon to help me put my clothes away. That would have been too big a job for me.  I felt a tinge of sadness that I could do no more for them than thank them.  With our remodel project in the works and my decreased work due to chemo, money is a little short on supply.  I was not able to purchase gifts for my loved ones.  I find myself in the position of practicing the art of being a cheerful receiver still. I felt a little embarrassed when so many of the gifts under the tree were for me and outnumbered the gifts for my family.  Sigh.  I am a work in progress it seems.

I wrote all of that to write this.  If you ever find yourself in a situation like the one I found myself in and cash is short on supply consider the other four ways to demonstrate your love and to give a gift.  Physical hugs, squeezes, hand holding, a kiss and a smile can uplift a loved one. Telling your family verbally or writing them love letters might be more your style.  Make it an honest communication of your feelings.  Parents would love to receive this gift from their children.  Spend some quality time with your loved ones.  No television but real looking at each other and active interaction between you and them is all that is required to accomplish this goal.  Finally, my favorite, doing something for them that they would not want to do.  Gassing up their cars, getting the oil changed, spring cleaning, running errands, or cooking a meal.  I could go on but I think you have the idea.

As for me, I want to send a warm hug and big thank you to Tracey, Scott, Mom and Joe for all their help today.  My husband was surprised and pleased with the gift you helped me give to him.  I also want to thank everyone who sent me a gift for Christmas and for all those that remembered my son as well.  You helped give him a wonderful Christmas when I wasn't able to.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Susan