Buy Me Stuff

I learned something about myself this week. Well, actually that seems to be happening most weeks but this was so clear it kinda shocked me. There is a popular book called The Five Love Languages or something close to that anyway. I have not read it but I have heard its' contents discussed around me a lot the last few years. Apparently we all have a certain best way for love to be expressed to us. Some feel truly loved when you spend time with them, others thrive on words of praise & some on the sense of touch. Interesting stuff & I know several parents who find it helpful in letting them know the best way to show their children how much they are loved. Cool!

I have taken the simple test many times over the years & I am always bugged by my results. It turns out that if you really want me to know you love me, you have to give me something! My "love language" is gifts! It sounds so awful & selfish & ......well, greedy! It also sounds true. But, my mind keeps saying to me, doesn't everyone love getting presents? I did not realize the depth of my "issue?" until this week. Two days ago to be exact.

My birthday is Friday the 13th (only good luck for this lady). My amazing hubs asked me what I wanted for my birthday & I suggested he do his magic on eBay & find me a used Blackberry. I'm the strange woman at the staff meeting who pulls out a giant DayTimer to calendar her stuff while everyone else is tapping away on their cute little iphones, blackberries, blueberries & whatevers. I love gadgets but we don't spend on luxuries like that. I've been using the same little silver beat up cell phone for several years, it still works, why replace?

So he gets on eBay (he loves eBay & gets a lot of great deals, like his entire motorcycle!) & we look over the hundreds of old Blackberrys. I start squealing over the pink or red ones & we narrow the search down, now we are getting somewhere. I'm getting excited, can almost imagine the cute little thing in my hands! He says since we can't really tell what the features are by pictures & written descriptions we should go to a local store & write down the exact names & numbers of the model I want most & then we can narrow the ebay search even more & get a perfect deal. He does much of his shopping this way. He'll try on jeans at the store & then come home & order the perfect size which arrives in the mail in less than a week!

Okay, so there we are in the store, surrounded by all these shiny items & friendly clerks. We ask tons of questions, our clerk asks tons of questions & we get it pretty much figured out what would please me. I write it all down on my old fashioned tablet using an old fashioned pen. :) We leave the store to compare prices at another store, just in case we decide to go ahead & get a new one. I'm thinking, yeah right, once we leave the store the possibility of actually purchasing is pretty much out the door!

But I find myself back in the original store again in less than an hour & my hubs is saying to the guy "We want the red Blackberry Curve." !! What? My heart actually started beating so hard that I leaned against the counter & I began to giggle in a way that was not entirely appropriate for a customer in a snotty phone store! I was holding on to him & just laughing! Seriously, I am not sure how to describe what that moment & pretty much the rest of the day felt like inside me. I felt trembly. I felt melted. I felt worthy!

We do not do stuff like that. Well, I will say, we never used to do stuff like that! My hubs & I are careful (thrifty, cheap, frugal) spenders. We are both clearance rack shoppers & love a deal. Our family style is just that way. Until the last few years I had shopped at thrift stores & even used coupons at SUPERCUTS for as long as I can remember. As I stood next to my husband in that store smiling my goofy smile at the clerk I learned beyond the shadow of a doubt that my "Love Language" is definitely gifts! And yes, that's my new baby at the top of the post, isn't she the cutest?