My parents never said "I love you" when my two brothers, sister, and I were growing up. I had a couple of aunts who said it to me, and I heard my favorite television parents Mike and Carol Brady say it all the time to their kids, but those words were unspoken in my childhood home.
I was fifteen the first time my mom told me that she loved me. It was following my first accidental overdose on pills and alcohol, and I recall her saying, "You know we love you, right?" Well, no, Mom, I haven't ever been too sure of that, I remember thinking.
But also, it meant everything to me. My mom didn't find it easier to say she loved me as the years went on, and my dad has only found those words since she passed away.
But I'm okay. I now understand that my parents didn't depend on words to show us they loved us.
They showed us in a thousand other ways, including showing up for me every time I needed them. When my mom passed away, I didn't feel like there were any words, of any nature, left unspoken.