tell my family I love them every day

Always good to stay in touch with the folks. Wish they lived closer.

I know they want to hear it, so why is it so hard to say it. Sometimes I say the words but nothing else is there.
I know it is more important to say it than not and to say it even if the feelings aren’t quite there because eventually they will be and at least my family knows that I love them by hearing the words because the effort is made than not knowing at all.
They know I show it in other ways but sometimes I don’t.
It killed me when my mum and papa told me that I don’t show them I love them and see how I pull away from hugs.
My family is my everything and everyone knows that but them…

I love you mum.
I love you papa.
I love you lil man.

My mother is one of those people who always makes sure you never leave the house without hearing I love you, never go to bed without hearing it, and now that she lives a few states away never gets off the phone without hearing it. This habit contagiously made it into part of my fiber and I’m so glad it did.

My dad USED to be one of those guys who never said I love you, he just would give you that big hug, or the pat on the back that would say it without words. My four year old daughter changed that. I am like my mom always saying I love you to those I love and am the same way with my four year old, so she’s less than stingy when it comes to this type of affection. She kept on her Papa, telling him she loved him time after time, almost since she started being able to say the words. At first you could see he wasn’t quite sure how to procede, his own children didn’t use the words as much as this little baby. And after about a year of this, he started returning the favor. I’m not sure if he conciously did it because of her, or realized that he never really told his children that as much as he should’ve, but in the scheme of things it really doesn’t matter. My father was changed from a man almost unwilling to show affection, into a wonderful person who now never forgets. You could visibly see the change. It was wonderful to see someone so small change someone very set in his ways.

Since writing down this goal I have not missed a day. It seems to me I go out of my way to remind me family they are loved. Even in the mist of a heated conversation with a collge student I was able to remind him of how much he is loved. It feels good to when the respond back “I LOVE YOU”