Nora got us a gift for Valentine’s Day. The book has a title, but I can’t remember what it is. Essentially it’s a book of activities for couples. (No, not those activities, though there is a second edition that is geared that way. bow chicka wow wow) We try to have one date night a week, and this seems a fun mix-in to keep us out of ruts.
The book has two activities per page. The specifics of the activities are hidden behind a scratch-off, so you can’t really pick and choose which ones you want to do. There are icons next to each activity that give some details about it. Estimated hours, if there is shopping needed to prep, if you should get a babysitter, indoor/outdoor, etc. You pick one, scratch it off, and do the thing.
We decided to give one a go last night. We chose the shortest one, one hour, that seemed not to have any real overhead associated with it. We had a nice salmon dinner, watched a little TV, and generally relaxed into it.
The activity: Go online and take the Five Love Languages test, share our results with each other, talk about two to three ways we would like each other to express themselves in our preferred language, and then plan a date (to go on within a week) that incorporates these.
I’m generally not a fan of these quizlets that profess to determine the best ways we interact with the world. (I’m looking at you Myers Briggs, DiSC, and Learning Styles) Research has shown that results on these tests vary over time and may actually lead to poorer performance as we pigeonhole ourselves and get into echo chambers based on these test results.
But this is a fun, interesting way to learn about each other, so I kept these opinions to myself. Let’s look at my results.
- “Quality Time” 29%
- “Physical Touch” 26%
- “Acts of Service” 16%
- “Receiving Gifts” 16%
- “Words of Affirmation” 13%
What can we learn from this? I think rather than singling out QT as the winner, we should group the top two together, as they were pretty close results. Admittedly, the overall look of this is pretty much what you might expect, though I would have thought there would be a bigger spread from first to fifth.
Without question, Nora spending time with me is my favorite. I don’t care what we do or where we do it. Just being with her is the best.
Physical Touch is up there too. Hugs and kisses. Just resting her hand on my leg. All good stuff.
The other three check out as being on the bottom, as I don’t believe I am worthy of these things. I have a love/hate relationship with these. I appreciate when Nora shows me these, but I generally feel uncomfortable with her spending that energy or money on me.
So, from my side, any date with Nora is a win based on this info. I just want to spend time with her, anywhere. I think we have plans to go play mini-golf this Friday. Stay tuned for that.
It was an interesting experience to take the test. There were thirty questions, some kind of repetitive I thought, and it was clear to me taking it that my present mood could easily change some answers. Here’s a link to the one we took if you want to have some fun.
What is your love language?