Those three little words...

When people talk about those, "Three little words," most people assume it is, "I love you."  Those are powerful words.  For some, they may be difficult to ever say.  Some may let those words drip from their lips as effortlessly as water.  Everyone wants to hear it.  Everyone wants to say it.  You are a big, fat liar if you say you don't.  Tell others whatever you want, but you cannot deny, at least to yourself, that it is a desire and a need we all have.  But, those are not the only three little words that should count.  Maybe there are those that think nothing else matters, but I disagree.  You can give and have all the love in the world and still feel like something is missing.  So, I have comprised a list of phrases that I find to be just as important to hear as, "I love you."  Here we go:

• "You, sit down."
• "I got this."
• "Like your haircut."
• "You losing weight?"
• "You're not ___ (enter your age)."
• "You are strong."
• "You are important."
• "You are amazing."
• "You are mine."
• "I need you."
• "I want you."
• "You're my friend."

"Love" is a lot of things:  an emotion, a state of mind, a noun, a verb, but it is used as a blanket-term to cover everything.  "I love Shinedown," is not the same as, "I love my daughters," or, "I love Tom Selleck (which I do sooooo much)."  We use the word to express the strongest feeling we have for a particular person or object...the same word we use to tell those closest to us how important they are.   Does this devalue the word love?  Maybe not, maybe so.  Just do not assume that when you tell someone, "I love you," that they know it means you think they are an amazing, important, strong friend that you want and need and think looks great for their age and has nice hair.  Tell people what you love about them, why you love them, and how much they mean to you.  Try to do it without using the, "L," word.