Saying It Out Loud

The people that you love, they know you love them.

But for some reason, no matter how well you know them or how long you’ve lived with them, saying those words out loud is like a lightning bolt to the heart.

I’m not talking about the “I love you” at the end of a phone call or the “I love you” from the car window (These are good ones, too, but they serve a different purpose.)

I’m talking about the one where you make eye contact, speak from a place deep inside that you don’t fully understand, and then stay in the room afterward.

Yeah. That one.

That one is like a firey sword piercing the earth, like photon missiles going into the Death Star. It’s like the last verse to your favorite song.

It’s always beautiful. It’s always hard. And it always works — as powerful as 5 years of therapy, as transformative as a hurricane, as comforting as a soft, warm blanket.

Three words in the right order at the right time will change the lives in the room. Permanently.

And to think, we all have that kind of power.