Love, or "What's That Supposed to Mean?"

"Love" is a word used for many things. It's been used to manipulate, express desperation, or undying romantic affection. Most of these things are not actually love, but the word easily comes to mind, as it expresses one of our most basic needs in life.

"Love" is a word tossed out too often by some, and too little by others. Rarely
do we take the time to focus on what we mean when we tell them we love them.
If I tell you I love you, I don't do so because I "expect" anything in return.
Love, when given truly, is something so amazing to feel, that it builds me up
inside, and by saying "I love you", try to convey even a little bit of that raw
emotion through words.

If I tell you I love you, I mean that who I am has changed for

Love gives us strength

the better, in a small or a large way, because of you. If I love you, My life
experience from the time I say it, onward, is fundamentally and profoundly more
awesome.

Love can be accompanied by lust or infatuation, and often gets confused. To love someone is to care, deeply, for that person rather than ourselves, but also to make ourselves better and stronger as a result of feeling it. The loss of a partner isn't the loss of love; it's the loss of romance. To say we "can't live without" someone else isn't love at all, though not to diminish how extreme that feeling can be.

If I tell you I love you, I mean that just because you exist, I'm a little more
grateful for the Universe that contains you. I mean that something about you
lives on inside me forever, and feels like it belongs. Something about you
has become a part of me, always, becoming a part of who I am at my most basic level.

And I really, really appreciate it. "I love you" is expressing gratitude for the existence of another that transcends any other words.