Telling someone that you love them is not enough. Showing them that you love them bridges that gap where words have lost their meaning and are ruled ineffective. As a result, a few actions can easily say more than we can speak in a lifetime.
- Get to know their favorite meals, then, learn to cook as many as you can--as well as you can--and surprise them periodically. Knowing how to cook is an essential survival skill, knowing how to cook for the person you love is a highly advanced… survival skill.
- Take notes on their favorite songs, artists, and musical pieces. Then, compile an album for them that includes as many of their favorites as possible and leave it somewhere for them to find-almost accidentally-like in the passenger's seat of their car. This is similar to cooking for them, in that music is food for the ears and their favorite songs are their favorite meals.
- If you can't dance, learn, and ask them to dance with you. If you can dance, dance more-with them, of course. It may become necessary to setup dance classes that both of you can attend. This is the person you love… remember? Embarrassment and fear on the dance floor are only temporary, and overcoming those two can last indefinitely.
- Help their friends and relatives, no matter how much you may dislike each other initially. So, the next time somebody needs to be picked up at the airport, needs help with their homework, or needs help at work--you jump to the occasion. No relationship lives in isolation, there are many people who affect it and they will tell the person you love how you behave towards them and what they think about you.
- Do something you don't necessarily like to do but that they like to do, together. This can be as simple as enduring a night at the opera or going to a home improvement show or tractor-pull. All people are obviously different, with many likes and dislikes, and what we do with the dislikes is just as important as what we do with the likes. Doing something they like, which you may not, also helps to demonstrate that you accept their uniqueness and that a difference between you is not insurmountable.
- Take care of them and pamper them when they're not feeling well or are feeling a bit down. This is the equivalent of cheering a person up, a little soup and some tissues can go a long way but so can leaving the person alone so they can have some time to themselves. Comedy is sometimes appreciated, as are gifts and other surprises. The bottom line on this one… is that when you truly know the person--as much as you can--and love them as they are… you will know what to do.
Caution: These are not things that should be taken lightly, and they are definitely not things that should be done just on special occasions like their birthday or Valentine's Day. The person you love should know and see that they are special every day of their life, and not just because they love you too.
