Can you speak up please? I can't hear you!

Every once in a while, my life seems to have a theme. The same ideas come up in various conversations and contexts, and I’m left to mull it over. Recently, this is what’s been on my mind: it is always more important to value the actions of a man over his words; words can be false and empty, but actions speak volumes. It’s been coming from everywhere, from everyone, but I haven’t felt like it’s applied to me until recently.

Ferrell is great. I enjoy every moment I spend with him, and I wish we could spend even more time together. But here’s the problem – the man doesn’t speak; when it comes to us, he could be diagnosed with selective mutism (wow, graduate school really has taken a toll on me and somehow made me even more of a nerd). I have really had to stretch myself to look at what he’s doing and not what he’s saying, or not saying. It takes me a lot of self-discipline to avoid yelling at him and asking "Do you like me or not? Just tell me!" Instead, I hold it in, which is clearly not my specialty.

So for all my single ladies (read that with the Beyonce song in mind), here’s the deal: we hear all sorts of lines all the time, some of them touching and seemingly sincere but many of them ridiculous. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been given great lip-service from a guy I’m dating only to be disappointed a few weeks later when he stops calling or things fizzle. Actions speak louder than words, and we have to stop caring so much about what comes out of their mouths (because we all know most of it is bull) and start paying attention to all the little things they do; the calls, the texts, the dates, and the affection. Ferrell may not be full of sweet talk (channeling The Killers song) but when he picks me up a Yogurt Land shirt and kisses my shoulders in the morning, I hear him loud and clear.