I love you so much!

"I love you" is not a phrase that my family voiced very often when I was growing up. Don't get me wrong, my family is so tight and we love each other more than can be put into words, but we just never really said "those 3 words" to each other. We just knew!

My best friends Reebs and Steph say it to each other, their oldest sister Linds and their mom at the end of every phone call or when they leave each others house...mind boggling! I didn't know what to think when I first heard these words being thrown around so much about 10 years ago when we first started hanging out.

In my early 20's my brother older brother Adam started throwing this phrase around when he would end our phone calls. He is the cop, wrestler, football, Styx singing guy, so this also blew my mind.  Eventually the "I love you's" spread on to my parents from my brother and I would hear my dad saying it back to my bro before hanging up. My uncles in NYC started sneaking it into our phone conversations and my dad is saying it more too....What is happening with all this Love?

I'm at the point where I can type and email or sign birthday cards that end with "I love you," no problem whatsoever. It's the end of a phone call when I have to respond the my brother or my dad's 3 words..I get flustered and muster out a quick "Love you too!' Those two words just seem much easier to say than those three for some reason. 

This weekend I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my folks, brother, sis n law and two nieces. My other bro and sis n law were in Cali..missed them big time.! Here's the deal. My 3 year old niece K has no problem throwing these three word around and I have absolutely no problem saying them back to her.

When she was supposed to be napping on Friday she called down for me. I went up there and she asked me to lay with her, so I did for a few minutes hoping that would do the trick. While lying there facing each other she put her little arm around me and gave me a big squeeze. She said "My best friend...I love yo soooo much Ellily!" This was the cutest and one of the most amazing moments in my life. I responded with "I love you!" and she said "I love you more!" If this totally cute and innocent 3 year old can throw these three words around so easily, why can't I?

I did talk about this with a friend last week who has the exact same problem that I have. He grew up never saying it and now is married to someone who says it all the time, this is a life changer. He says he is learning to use it more and showers his sons with the words all the time.. At least I'm not in this boat alone!

So here is to learning how to say these three words without clamming up and mumbling out "luvutwo.."

I. Love. You.

Em