What odd-but-lovely habits / rituals do you and your DP have?

[whatsinmypockets]

Inspired by a chat I had with a friend last night – she mentioned that she and her DP turn on 80s power ballads whenever they have to do house chores they don't enjoy, so they can play air guitar / sing into the antibac spray / throw armfuls of laundry in the air dramatically / hold the bathroom bin above their heads triumphantly while they get things done. Makes the job more fun and they get to feel connected.

It made me smile so much – and made me think of how DP and I, whenever we do something very mundane but do it well (like unpack the online shop delivery quickly or get eyedrops into the dog successfully) will put on overenthusiastic American accents and compliment one another like sports commentators: "Did you see the SPEED of that?" "This man is a true CHAMPION" "Ladies and gentlemen, I think we just witnessed history being made" "I've never seen talent like it"...

I love how couples often develop these weird little rituals that are totally unique to that specific relationship...

Given there's (understandably) so much "something's wrong with my relationship" on MN, I'd love to read some more examples of things like this - what do you and your DP do that's a quirk of your relationship?

Doesn't have to be as 'significant' as my friend and her power ballads – might just be a sweet how-we-make-coffee-in-the-morning routine or a specific way you hold hands...

I don’t think we have any of these 🤔

Been together 20 years and are mainly happy, so maybe we do 🤷🏻‍♀️

Whenever my DP tries to talk to me when I get out of the shower I say “you’ll have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel” 😂

We make a lot of references to Dexter the series as we absolutely love it and have watched them all together many times over the years.

We also have to shout to the other one nakey in the house when one of the dogs loses their collar even the kids do this one.

When we are in shops and have separated hel cat call me from wherever he is in the shop but in the deepest voice so the teens dissolve in embarrassment.

We also poke one another on a nipple every time one of us gets out of or into bed. Bizarre and don't know how it started but hey ho

There are possibly so many more random things we do but we've done them for so long it's normal to us

When we go for a curry I have naan rather than rice with mine, DP always save part of his rice in case mine is too hot and I need some 'emergency rice'

We kiss every time we get in or out of the car, and before every meal. If in a restaurant, we airkiss across the table.

Randomly "straighten" the other one's boobs /man boobs using both hands. Then stand back, eye critically, and say 'that's better'
Not in public!

Phone each other from the supermarket on the way home from work and ask what the other fancies for dinner. The answer is always "Something naiiiiice" 😄

Whenever one of us makes the other one a cup of tea, the tea receiver has to say "Thank you very much, lovely" in the manner of the terrified gasman from the Gas episode of Bottom.

I think we probably have loads but they are so ingrained now that's the only one that comes to mind.

Love that @PetrichorSoul 🤣

I actually pictured this so vividly it made me laugh 😆

I bet you do – but like @Starlight1979 said, they're probably just so ingrained after 20 years you don't notice them anymore 😉

'Emergency rice' 🥹

These are all so lovely!

Made me kinda sad though as a happy singleton of far too many years to count I've just realised something I miss about being in a couple!

Damn 😢😂

I’ll keep an eye out, and let you know! 😜

I love this. 🤣🤣

Argh, things like this definitely aren't couple-exclusive, though! I've heard of lots between friends and family members...

My friend's husband has a game going with his brother where they try to 'Get Rid Of The Duck' – they secretly hide a rubber duck in the other's house with the aim of it going unnoticed. Once it's found, of course it then gets secretly snuck into the other house...

This game has been going on for 17 years...

Whoever is cooking says "five minutes, Turkish" as a first call for dinner and then "ten minutes, Turkish" when it's almost ready.

If you haven't seen Snatch this will mean nothing to you!!

DP and I went to see Embrace live in the summer. One couple kept heckling ‘World at your feet! Play World at your feet!’ in Hull accents. Now we just randomly say it to each other 😂
We live apart and we start each morning by texting each other good morning and sharing our results of the Heardles for that day.

I narrate the dogs voice and my DH responds to it, they/we have full on conversations/arguments sometimes. I think the dog is in on it as he's perfectly on cue to what I'm saying 😁

But sometimes I accidentally do it infront of other people and they don't even respond back, losers 😐😁

We work well together, like when I can't reach the top of the window to clean it, I'll get on his shoulders. There was one last box of beer at the very back of the top shelf in Asda. Someone else tried to reach it but gave up... Not us though... Quick up onto his shoulders and we walked away like it was a well earned prize 😁 we probably should be more embarrassed than we are but it was the last box!!

Oh these have made my day. The lunges, the 'all rise', the adjusting of the boobs... I thought DH and I had some funny us-isms, but these are life-affirmingly wonderful!

Delia Smith who had the habit of saying ‘my’ spoon, or ‘my’ whisk etc when most people would say ‘the’. We have a lot of ‘can you move please I need to get to my saucepan’ etc. No one else would probably even notice!

@ShinyPrettyThings87 embarrassed?! You should be waiting for APPLAUSE! 😂

Oh dear, I just fully honked at this while standing in line at the pharmacy 😂

when I get home from work I always say 'Hello Father' to DH in a Father Ted style voice

Whenever we're on an escalator, the person on the higher step turns around to kiss the other. Always! And we live in London and travel by tube so we use escalators a lot. Been married for 38 years now and started this when we first met.
There have been occasions when one of us were traveling alone and almost kissed a stranger.