Love Language

My love language is making gifts and spoiling people I care for. Stingy or thoughtless people sometimes really exasperate me. Over time, though, I have come to realise that it's mostly their upbringing that made them so and often comes without any ill intention. As the only child of financially comfortable parents I was always showered with gifts on birthdays and Christmas and it had been instilled on me NEVER to show up without a host(ess) gift when you're invited for dinner, for example. Highflyer definitely knows to deliver on special occasions, puts a lot of time and effort in the cards he writes and I would definitely describe him as romantic, but his background is entirely different. As someone with 8 (!) siblings and one one parent working, his upbringing was definitely more frugal and I noticed that if it weren't for me he would probably show up empty-handed at most friends' and relatives' houses, just because he would not expect anything himself either, whereas I'd definitely raise an eyebrow and wonder what I had done to deserve this treatment.

This being the case, I don't expect random gifts without an occasion from him, but am all the more delighted when I do get them for example when he finds the time for a bit of shopping on overnight stays abroad. Well, having hinted that UK or French magazines with freebies in particular are highly welcome might have helped a little...

Last Wednesday I returned to the country house after a few days spent in Vienna, knowing I would not see him until late the following night. There were 7 roses in a vase on the dining table and another 3 on my desk. I knew well that he had probably picked them up at the supermarket along with groceries, but I was delighted all the same by this thoughtful gesture. If this happened every week (which it doesn't) I probably would not appreciate it nearly as much, but knowing that gifts and surprises are an "acquired skill" for him and not something he grew up with, always makes me go "aaaaw".