I Love You

Say what you want about Gen X or Gen Z, or whatever they’re called but they are far more evolved than my generation when it comes to sharing their feelings. I love how young friends hug each other and say I love you. Nothing bad can come from this. When I grew up the words, “I love you,” were not bandied about like this. Case in point: When I told a childhood friend I loved her, she said, “Oh god, Susan, am I dying?”

We didn’t hear those words growing up much in the 1970s. It just wasn’t a thing. But something happened when I left home that changed that. I started receiving letters like these on a regular basis, which still mean everything to me fifty years later.