Comments on: Three little words

By: Donny "Daddy" Claxton

Donny "Daddy" Claxton — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 02:11:10 +0000

I make a habit of saying I love you as often as I can. We just never know when a freak accident is going to happen and then it’ll be too late. When my daughters were younger they used to say, “Daddy, we know.” And I would always tell them that a daddy can never tell his girls enough how much he loves them. I still believe that today.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 22:02:40 +0000

What a thought-provoking post. I sometimes think that our language needs a more nuanced variety of words that mean “love.” After all, isn’t odd that we say the same thing to our children, our parents, and our partners? Certainly our feelings for all of these people are not the same – perhaps only the fact that we have trouble defining the depths and dimensions of our affection for them ties together the ways we feel about them.

And this line, “What bravery it takes to speak them only when you mean it.” Yes.

By: dadshouse

dadshouse — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 06:33:04 +0000

I say those words to my kids every day. And they say it right back. I feel blessed.

By: BigLittleWolf

BigLittleWolf — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:20:15 +0000

I love your response…

By: Natalie

Natalie — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:17:34 +0000

Someone told me that the more one says “I love you” the less strength or meaning it has.

I thought that made sense until I really thought about it. Does love really work like that? If you say I love you with meaning, isn’t that something that would generate more good will and in turn generate more lovey feelings?

So I started saying “I love you” all the time. Not just my husband and children, but my friends, my co-worker with whom I am close, my aunts and cousins with whom I am not close, my sisters and parents, and more than that, I look for ways to to convey love of some kind.

“I love your laugh” or “I love the way you do your hair” or “I love that you always hold the door open for me.”

I don’t think it has diminished the power of the word Love for me. When I tell my husband I love him, we are canoodling or gazing deep into each other’s eyes. There is no question of the depth of our emotion.

By: BarMitzvahzilla

BarMitzvahzilla — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 04:13:47 +0000

My family is also a constant “I love you” family – blathering it all the time, and I say it to my best friend and my mother too ad nauseum. My husband grew up in a cooler environment. When he first said it he then tried to wriggle out of it by explaining that there were different kinds of love and maybe he meant one of those other kinds. Of course, he didn’t understand what kind of obnoxious ox he had fallen in love with. Nineteen years later I think he knows. Thanks for a thought-provoking post.

By: Corinne

Corinne — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:54:56 +0000

I have to tell you, this subject always makes me smile. The first time hubby told me he loved me, we were laying in bed on a lazy Sunday morning. He told me, and I rolled over and said “no you don’t”. I knew he did, and I knew I loved him, but when it catches you off guard… needless to say it was pretty funny.
Another great post!

By: BigLittleWolf

BigLittleWolf — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:35:55 +0000

“Love”ly response!

By: becca

becca — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:31:13 +0000

I say I love you ALL THE TIME to my kids and my husband. I don’t think you can ever say them often enough. Growing up, my parents didn’t “toss” these words around. They said when, and only when, they meant it. They never even signed cards to people Love, ___. They chose Fondly or All the Best instead. Love was something you had to earn in my house. And I don’t recall hearing the words I love you spoken so often in my family either. And now, having a husband who tells me he loves me 100 x a day and who says “Love ya man” to his friends on the phone, I sometimes think the words CAN lose their meaning. There’s a happy medium maybe.

Ironically, I did tell my husband I loved him first. I felt it. I meant it. And he didn’t say it back. He wasn’t ready. But I stuck around (I knew it was in there somewhere!) and when he said it, I knew he meant it.

Lovely post BLW! I “loved” it.

By: notasoccermom

notasoccermom — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 18:55:46 +0000

Great post. It is an empty feeling to be the first to say it, however sometimes it awakens more in the recipient.
Someday I hope to say those words again to a love, and receive the same in return.