Say "I Love You" Without Words

BY BRETT GRAFF

Make your husband's heart go pitter-patter with one of these sweet, simple gestures

• "My husband was too swamped to leave the office at lunchtime, so I packed him a lunch myself -- complete with Hershey's kisses -- and delivered it in person."
  --Cindy, 28-Naples, FL
  
• "Every once in a while, I'll leave a few stanzas of 'our' song on his office voice mail."
  --Judy, 30-New York
  
• Whenever we go out to dinner and my husband can't decide between two dishes, I always like to order one of them so he can try both -- even if it wouldn't have been my first choice."
  --Cathy, 36-Atlanta
  
• "I sneak out to his car at night and leave a picture of my son and me on the dashboard -- just so he can see us as he drives off to work."
  --Alyson, 30-Las Vegas
  
• "During a vacation, my husband ordered a bouillabaisse, which he couldn't stop talking about. It's a tough dish to find where we live, so I investigated and found a restaurant whose chef was willing to make it, even though it wasn't on the menu. Then I took my husband there for a delicious surprise. Now he can't stop talking about that."
  --Michele, 30-Hauppauge, NY
  
• "I buy him flowers, which I think represent love and romance regardless of whether it's a man or woman who's giving them. He says it brightens his day, and never fails to remind me that no one else ever did this for him."
  --Name withheld
  
• "Normally my husband will come home to a circus -- kids running around. But one night I tucked everyone in early, and my husband opened the door to the delicious sound of silence. Then we cooked dinner and talked for hours just like we did when we were dating."
  --Wendy, 36-Guilford, CT
  
• "I buy him boxers and inside on the elastic waistband, I use permanent marker to write messages like 'You're the best.' That way when he gets dressed in the morning, he can read them and smile."
  --Abbe, 31-Houston, TX
  
• "My husband had been dreading having to fix some holes in the bathroom left from an old light fixture. So while he was away, I got out the joint compound and repaired them myself. He was so impressed!"
  --Mitzi, 30-Borger, TX
  
• "I brag about my husband over the phone to friends and clients -- with my husband well within earshot. He pretends he can't hear, but I know he can."
  --Lisa, 29-Boston
  
  More Ways to Say "I Love You" Without Words
  
  
• "Before leaving on a business trip, I hid notes all over the house – in his pants pocket, the refrigerator, his sock drawer -- saying that I missed him. That way when he least expected it, he'd find a reminder that I loved him."
  --Name withheld
  
• "I leave my husband alone every Sunday so he can watch football. I don't mention what needs to be fixed around the house, or that it's too nice out to sit inside and watch television."
  --Nuri, 46-Miami, FL
  
• "When the weather's nice and my husband calls from the office saying he's on his way home, sometimes I'll set the table out in the backyard, put out some cold beer and light those candles that keep the bugs away. It stays light so late in the summer, and this way he can enjoy spending the evening outside after being cooped up in the office all day."
  --Kristen, 32-Chicago
  
• "My husband leaves for work in the morning two hours before I do, but in the summertime I get up early so we can bike to the office together. I'm willing to sacrifice sleep to spend time with him."
  --Charly, 37-New York
  
• "I take him by the hand at night and lead him into the kids' rooms, where I whisper, 'See what beautiful children we made?' He can't help but feel like he's on top of the world when I do that."
  --Name withheld
  
• "My husband's a major Miami Dolphins fan. For our anniversary, I wanted to get him a satellite dish so he could see all the games. But our apartment is in a landmark building and we weren't allowed to have satellite dishes. After sending dozens of letters to the building manager, I convinced him otherwise and got the dish just in time for our anniversary -- and football season."
  --Marcie, 34-New York
  
• "My husband's parents live in Mexico and were coming up to visit. Because their English is rusty, my husband was worried they wouldn't be able to talk with me. So I secretly started taking Spanish lessons. By the time his parents arrived, I could carry on simple conversations with them. I've never seen my husband so surprised and grateful."
  --Donna, 27-Tucson, AZ
  
• "I give him full access to the remote control. Sure, he channel-surfs more than I like sometimes, but it's pure torture for him when I have the remote, so I hand it over. I'll survive without it."
  --Julie, 34-Washington, DC
  
• "I leave his vitamins out on the counter every morning before I go to work. We're a young couple, but I want to make sure he's healthy so we can be together until we're 100 years old."
  --Jamee, 28-Hoboken, NJ
  
• "My husband and I alternate waking up with the baby. Sometimes when it's his turn, I'll slip out of bed early before our son even starts crying so he can have a bonus sleep-in day."
  --Name withheld
  
• "When my husband used to spend entire days on his feet at work, at night I'd seat him in a comfortable chair, fill a tub with warm water and give him a long foot soak and massage."
  --Mirtha, 33-Duarte, CA
  
• "I went to visit my husband at work, and on my way I saw his car. I wrote 'I love you' on the windshield with lipstick. Because he had just seen me,he was not expecting the note, so it was a nice surprise."
  --Diane, 26-Loma Linda, CA
  
• Outrageous "I Love You's"
  True tales of women who've really wowed their husbands.
  
  
• "I hired a helicopter to pick us up on the rooftop of his office building and fly us to dinner. We both remember that night like it was yesterday."
  --Vivian,-Coral Gables, FL
  
• "At a sports game my husband and I were attending, I hired the stadium to display a happy birthday message for him on the scoreboard. I took a photo of the scoreboard, and he shows it to everyone who comes over."
  --Georgia, 43-Seattle
  
• "At a hotel, I had a waiter serve us a sumptuous seven-course meal in our room. Every 20 minutes a new course came to our door. He was floored."
  --Fran, 39-Weston, FL
  

Be more concerned with your character than your reputation,
because your character is what you really are,
while your reputation is merely what others think you are
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