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My wife will turn 41, and looking for some gift ideas. Just finished Christmas and I got her a necklace, earrings, clothes, slippers, a picture of our fam from shutterfly (we have 3 kids 9M, 7F, 3M).
My best gift was a commitment to write something I love about her on a heart-shaped notecard every night until her bday, which has been great. Like the title says, she recently decided she wanted a divorce after a girls' trip to Mexico. I'll probably make a post on another subreddit, but to provide context relevant to this gift her reasons were feeling emotionally neglected, intermittent emotional abuse, and overall sort of 'fell out of love' with me. I make 80% of the money, but she does 80% of the stuff for the kids. A good friend helped me realize those don't 'feel' equal, and needs to be more like 50/50 on kids regardless of generating money. I had an idea of getting a bunch of pictures from over the past 17 years of our relationship, but I worry some of those pictures in the past will trigger the trauma. I could go on about all the things, but this is probably enough context for most people. I've been successfully making an effort to 'win her back' now for about 6 weeks, and even her friends notice the change. Keeping that going is #1 priority, but coming up with some nice gifts could definitely move the needle. She has said she is willing to try to work on things, and we've been attending marriage counseling.
She's really into fitness, she's a nurse, loves reading. We live close to downtown, but we also play in the mountains a lot (skiing, mt biking, etc.). Her love language is 'acts of service.' I've already gotten her a gold necklace with our kids' names on it, a smart scale that tracks BMI (I know this is dicey, but you'll have to trust me on this one). I've thought about taking the heart-shaped note every night and making it a longer weekly note where I list a few times where I noticed something about her that made me feel in love with her).
If you have made it this far, thank you.
For an acts of service birthday consider this?
For some birthdays for friends I would have a section of downtown, and have a sack of cards for businesses in the area. It could be something as simple as a locally owned gift shop, to a cat cafe, to an arcade, to a bar, to a restaurant that has killer (whatever specialty). It’s a lot of work to research, so it is definitely an act of service, it’s fun and a surprise.
She will appreciate you being thoughtful and doing the mental work to win her back. Not just buying her something. Make her feel seen and heard, for a whole day that revolves around her. Buy her a gift that is just for her, no one else. Moms make everything about the kids. Spa day. Lessons in something. Make it time away and just for her. You take the kids while she does it. It is also an act of service.
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This is perfect! It’s about her, not him. It’s heavily acts of service, which is her love language.
My girlfriends call this our perfect day. What we would do if we got the whole day to do what we wanted any. Husbands are part of it. Girlfriends are part of it. He needs to reach out to the friends.