One word frees us of all the weight and pain in life. That word is Love.
—Sophocles
Your kids shrug when you say it. It feels weird saying it in public— cliché, lame, vulnerable. You don’t want to embarrass them. Or bother them. Or interrupt. Plus, they know how you feel, right? You’ve said it a thousand times before at home.
We have a million reasons not to say these words, but all of these reasons are wrong because it’s impossible to say them enough: I love you.
I’m proud of you.
It’s you I like.
You are special.
You are enough.
You’re the most important thing in the world to me.
At the end of your life, do you think, for one second, that you will kick yourself for saying any of those words too much? Or is it more likely that you’ll wish you’d said those things more? Because it would absolutely kill you if you thought for one second that they might not know, that they might not feel in their hearts, how much you loved them, how proud you were of them, how nothing—not success, money, or lack of either—could change what they meant to you from the moment they were born.
Life is full of risks. This is one gamble you don’t need to take. So say it. Tell them how you feel. Tell them that you love them. Say it again and again
and again.
It’s impossible to do it too much . . . but you might as well try.