For my mother, though, it’s different. She makes a point of saying “I love you” all the time because she rarely heard those words from her own mother, and she wants to make sure her kids know she loves them. So I don’t want to get huffy or blow her off when she says it. I know that it’s very important for her. Still, sometimes I want to say to her, “Mom, I know you love me. Words are nice, but you’ve shown me your love through so much more than just words. You don’t need to say it.”

Yet, I myself constantly say “I love you” to my cat in a similarly casual way. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t understand it. She understands me caressing her, feeding her, cleaning her litter box, and letting her outside and, of course, back inside when she wants. She knows I love her without me having to say a single word.

I love people. I love my husband, my children, my RL family (although there’s one I’m having to re-learn to like right now). I love my RL friends and SL friends, like Iso and crew, although in general I wouldn’t use the “L”-word on them individually because, again, to me it’s pushing intimacy, and since they’re my friends I kind of impart my own values to them I guess, and assume it would skeeve them out.

Animals are easy. I can get all sugary-goofy with the dog and cats and no one’s skeeved. Well, except maybe the cats. It works for me.