"Love You"

We took these pictures at around 1am after a date night...about five years ago. Our dynamics were a little different then, but I wouldn't say anything has changed...just evolved.

After we were married we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I worked at a Fire District in Menlo Park. The administrative staff was pretty small, so we had an intimate office setting and could usually hear each other on the phone. Patrick and I always talked a few times a day...just to check in...or maybe to discuss some errands or other plans. Either way, we always ended our conversation with "Love You."

One day one of my co-workers asked me if we say "Love You" after every phone conversation (we had been married about 3yrs at this point). I said, "Yes, almost always." Then in kind of an irritated tone she said, "Do you mean it each time? Don't you think if you say it so casually all the time that it loses its meaning?" I had never thought about it that way, and I told her we didn't see it that way. We meant it everytime we said it, and that we both felt like we would be missing out on a chance to say it...not knowing if it might be the last chance we might get to say it. She paused for a moment and then chalked it up to being "Newlyweds" and told me that little ritual wouldn't last forever. Patrick and I talked about it later that night, because I wanted confirmation that it wasn't just a habitual exchange of pleasantry...especially since he was usually the one to initiate it. He assured me he meant it everytime (warning: sappiness ahead) and that he planned to say it everytime we were apart and had a chance see each other or talk to each other or leave each others sides...and even at times when I least expected it.

So, thinking back on that and knowing that we aren't in the "Newlywed" phase of our marriage I can still say that it applies! We end every conversation with "Love You" and we still mean it! Patrick even goes as far as whispering "I Love You" when we part ways after Sunday School to go to our separate meetings each Sunday.

Some of you may think it's over the top and some of you may be in the corner "gagging" with my co-worker, but it's what works for us. No matter how many times we say it and no matter how long we're married, saying "I Love You" never loses it's meaning.

December 29th marked 8 years of saying "Love You," and I wouldn't change a thing or take a single "Love You" back!