– The Vine by Frank Buck –
When I pick up a dictionary and discover that there about a million words in the English language I realize all too quickly how many I do not know and how many I have never used. New words are always being added to the dictionary and others fall out of use. The average person is said to know between 20,000 and 30,000 words and many of those can be misconstrued to have another meaning.
Some words never fall out of favor and span time immortal. Every word we use has a history, and in most cases, it is a story of action and a story of something happening. Words have grown out of sounds that we make, and we then create a word with a similar sound that imitates it. I would love to have heard the first three little grunts from a caveman to a cavewoman. Grunting or not, I guarantee it got the point across.
Three little words once uttered can never be misconstrued. Saying these three little words can sometimes be a hard thing to do. One might feel pressured into saying them because you become vulnerable and worry that they will not be returned. I remember the first time I said them to my wife-to-be. I must admit, I was smitten and scared to death she felt the same way. There is no right or wrong time; it is when you believe that you have to say those three little words. It is when your thoughts of them surround you constantly, their heartbeat becomes yours, and life without them would be impossible. I remember when we were dating and I did not want to hang up the phone when talking to her, eventually playing a game of who was going to say goodbye first.
Saying those three little words is probably best demonstrated by our actions. We must realize that saying those three little words is just the beginning of proving how deep our feelings really are. I still believe in saying those words, but we all know the old saying, “actions speak louder than words!” So, do be helpful, do lend an ear on a bad day, tell them how proud you are of them, compliment them on just how great they look, make them smile, ask how they are doing, spend some downtime together, don’t be afraid to give them a card or some flowers, have a date night, tell them how lucky you are to have them in your life, try not to be so critical, give them a big hug, hold their hand, leave a love letter, a kiss out of nowhere, cuddle up on the couch, always be supportive, pay attention to when they are down and lift them up. Last, but not least, please tell them how much they make you feel loved and how blessed you are to have them in your life.
If you haven’t figured it out just yet, these three little words are ‘I love you’, which are universal in all languages. You are the giver, the author, the doctor of love and you are the one who will make it happen. Yes, it takes two, but always remember, that those three little words start from you.
