Dave and I began dating the very beginning of our senior year in college. At the Thanksgiving break, Dave gave me a super sweet card along with some Hershey kisses in a Ziplock bag.  The note explained that there was one “kiss” for each day we would be apart. Pretty sweet right?! So much so that I remember it all these years later.

My friend, Rachel, shared with me that she and her husband do this silly thing. They have a very small stuffed animal (it’s a sheep that they brought back from the year they spent with their family in New Zealand). One morning, when Rachel went to get dressed, she found that little sheep tucked into her shoe. She then hid the sheep in one of her husband’s jacket pockets not to be found for a couple of weeks. And so, the traveling sheep has now made it to many strange places for each to find.

Small Gestures Big Love

I’d like to collect more of these small gestures (I already have a bunch) and put them out into the world. I have emailed a number of friends asking if they have any small gestures to share and I received the BEST responses. What I have found is:

1. I never tire of hearing about the small gestures people do for one another. There is something in hearing them that lights up my brain almost as if it has happened to me.

2. Since I began focusing on this idea, I have become more intentional about offering small gestures to my husband, Donald. Nothing grand - just a heart on a sticky where he will find it – those types of things.

3. Friends who couldn’t easily think of something they do with their spouse, have told me that they have had conversations about stepping up their game. And that those conversations have had them be more intentional about offering small gestures to one another.

Of course, big gestures are super fun too. Don’t get me wrong – I would love to be swept off to Paris for the weekend. But what I know is… when Donald goes up to bed before me and puts the toothpaste and floss in front of my sink surrounded by little heart shaped rocks and I love you trinkets, those Small Gestures add up to Big Love.

Please send me your small gestures!!!