Why I Love My Wife - Reason 07

7. We collect romantic traditions as togetherness rituals.

I think I am a day behind, so two of these today!

This reason needs explaining because the phrase "togetherness rituals" is meaningless personal jargon.  But after a few examples you will recognize what I refer to, and hopefully relate the idea to ways you interact with your own close friends and family.

Many of our rituals are occasions for kissing: on a bridge, in an elevator, when the car odometer is a palindrome.

(Of course there are hello and good-bye kisses too.  Those rituals are so common I am not sure they count as "collected" by us.)

We also have codes for what  different types of touches mean.  When we do five fingertip touches, one with each finger of one hand, that is a code for the five words "I love you very much."  Two squeezes when holding hands means "Glad you are here."  We pet the back of the other person's hand to mean "It is nice to relax with you."  When we go on a walk we link elbows arm in arm to emphasize being together (when on walks with our kids this translates as "Ha!  We have both momentarily escaped from having to hold a little boy's hand").  Or on walks we will hold hands and swing those arms like a pendulum: a small swing means "What is next?" whereas a big swing means "Onward!"

I sometimes ponder what advice about dating I will give to our boys when they are older.  I am pretty sure one nugget will be:

     "Do not hold her hand until you can say six different things just by how you touch her hair.
     Do not touch her tushy until you can say six different things just by how you hold her hand.
     Do not kiss her until you can say six different things just by how you touch her tushy.
     Do not nap beside her in a hammock until you can say six different things just by how you kiss her.
     And you better not be doing more than napping beside her in a hammock!"

UPDATE: Changed the "nugget" to be longer and funnier.