Alternative ways to say “I Love You”…

Dear Friends;

This has been on my mind quite a bit as of late... Alternative ways to say “I Love You”… Not that I think that the good old standby is lacking in it's own merits... But... Sometimes it falls short, or comes on too strong. "I love you". But I am looking for something else... As in other words to express the feeling and emotions that are in the various stages of love...

absorbed, adore, adulation, affection, amity, amorousness, amour, appreciation, ardency, ardor, aroused, attachment, attracted, being smitten, beguiled, besotted, bewitched, captivated, carried away, charmed, cherishing, consumed, crazy about, crush, dazzled, delight, desire, devotedness, devotion, enamoration, enchantment, enjoyment, enraptured, entranced, fascinated, falling for, fancy, fervor, flame, fondness, friendship, gaga over, hold dear, hooked on, infatuation, involvement, itch for, like, liking, long for, lust, mad for, mesmerized, partial to, passion, pine after, prefer, rapture, really into, regard, seduced, sent, sentiment, soft spot, spellbound, stuck on, sweetness for, tenderness, thrilled, tickled pink, titillated, transfixed, transformed, the hots, treasure, turned on, want, weakness, wild for, yearning

I think you get the idea... What I am looking for are the different words to express these thoughts and emotions... If you love someone, you say, "I love you". But what if you are smitten? Or are enamored? You don't say, "I enamour you"... Specifically, that elusive term of endearment when parting... English is tricky this way... We have one word for love, and we just make the intonation different... Or repeat the word.

"I love him."
Okay...
“But do you love-love him?”
“Or do you Looooove him?”
Mmmm...
“I luv him."
Ohhhh…

Other languages have so many words that mean specific types of love… And we have a ton of words that mean similar things, but only one love. But how do you express how you love another person? And how is it that they do not think you mean something other that what you really feel?

I love my Mother
I love my Brother, who is also my best friend
I love my dearest friend that I have known since we practically children
I love my friend that lives 3,000 miles away
I love the new guy that I am dating
I love the 3-year-old son of a very Dear Friend
I love mankind and my fellow man
I love the strangers I meet, the Dear Friends I have not yet met
I love my plant, and I have loved my pets
I love ice cream, I really, really love coffee ice cream
I love adventure
I love me

I love the different people in my life in different ways, for different reasons, and at varying depths… With some of these people, it is easy to express how I feel. I love you is perfect. The relationship defines the understanding of love between us. But what about those relationships that are more ambiguous? (I hate that word. To me it is the antithesis of love. But let’s not get me started there…)

I love you
I adore you
Me too
Ditto
I miss you
Drive safe
Luv ya
You are dear to my heart

So… Where is all this coming from? What is spurning this quest for more knowledge and insight? Well… A variety of things…

As people enter into my life, and as the relationships that I have with them change and grow, the need for a more accurate form of expression is becoming more important. I do not wish to mislead anyone, but I also do not want to ever hold my words in reserve for a later time. I have learned that this moment in time is sometimes all that we have. And if you wait until later, later may not be there. Living in the moment has taken on a greater weight. And the magnitude of telling someone that I care about has likewise become more important.

So, my Dear Friends, how do you express your love for others? What do you say when words are all that you have to deliver your emotions to others? I know that actions often speak louder than words. That sometimes you can just reach over and give the person next to you a squeeze on the arm, and somehow, they just KNOW what it is that there are not the right words to say… And that sometimes a sigh is enough… But for those times that you want something more, something greater, what do you say? For those times that distance separates you, how do you let them know?

Please share… This inquiring mind REALLY wants to know…