Under the Hill - The L Word

I finally found the perfect man for me and true to Angie’s Luck he just wants “to be friends.” I’ve been trying to be mature about this, and more importantly realistic about our non existent romantic future, so imagine my surprise when the man in question, we’ll call him Conrad in the column, ended his last text message with I love you. Not, luv ya; much love; love Conrad, but the big three words that I have been dying to hear all strung together in one commanding sentence. This, of course sent me into a tailspin. What does this all mean? Was he coming around and falling in love with me? Did he love me like a sister? Like a friend? Was he filled with Christ’s love? What was the deal? This whole thing got me thinking; just how much power does the L word actually have?

People use the word love all the time. We love our friends, our family, our new pair of Jimmy Choos, but can a man who you share an attraction with say the words to you without changing things? Now that he has said the words does this mean it’s fair game to use the words to each other whenever we feel like? And if I am throwing “I love you Conrad” around am I allowing myself to hang on to the fantasy that he and I can still come together the way I want too?

I love you is not a sentence that I toss around casually. It’s certainly not something that I say to men who I don’t share DNA with, so why do men feel like it’s okay to toss it out to women and expect them not to feel the least bit confused or lead on? Men need to realize that I love you still has the power to send women’s imagination into overdrive and turn men into something they might not want to be: the current Mr. Right Now. If you are a man and you feel the need to say, text or write the words for whatever reason to a woman who you don’t want to be with, can you at least clarify it? How about “I love you like I love my car?” That will clear things up real quick and save you and her lots of complications in the long run. As for Conrad, “he loves me like he loves his loved ones.” Ain’t love grand?

till next week…