Every family has those ‘secret gestures’ or acts between the members — either a look at a dinner party that means ‘I’m ready to GO let’s escape NOW’ to a wrinkling of the nose or whatever it may be.
When my kids were young we came up with the tugging of the earlobe. Carol Burnett did this on her show. It was a secret signal to her family members that meant something like ‘hey thinking of you’ sort of thing.
For myself and the kids it meant ‘I love you’. We would tug on our earlobe wherever we were and the other person would know immediately we were sending the ‘I Love you’ signal.
I’ll never forget when the kids were in plays or on stage at a school function. They really couldn’t see out in the crowd to find us (plus being divorced parents unfortunately we were at opposite ends of the auditorium usually). However, they would just stare into the crowd and very discreetly tug on an earlobe. A huge smile would come over my face. Love for your kids is just so incredibly overwhelmingly unconditional. I love that feeling.
So — start whatever with your family or significant other.
For me — if I tug on your earlobe or on mine. It means something pretty darn serious and significant in my world.
Cocktails at Seven 