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There has been a bit of a shift in my most prominent love language.
For nearly all of My Life, my preferred love language has been physical touch. I would take the test and sure enough — there it was. Blowing the other four completely out of the water — Physical Touch was by far The Language.
I knew this. And it made sense. After my mother died, I was raised by an emotionally distant father. He was not abusive but certainly, he fell on the negligent scale. Physical contact was ‘not done’ — in fact, the times we did hug felt decidedly creepy and awkward. From the time my mother died, I went cold turkey on hugs — at age twelve.
All through my adult life, however, I’ve been healing. My children and my grandchildren played ginormous roles in providing me with the hugs and physical love I longed for all my life. My friends are always there, as well, with long supportive hugs — on call — if need be. I have found the love and security romantic partners never offered or conversely offered with strings attached.
I realized only this week, another love language has moved up on my scale as physical touch has become part of My Life.
Perhaps it’s because I write, or maybe because many of the people I love so dearly now live so far away — but Words Of Affirmation have moved up and taken up a much larger place…