"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget." -Jessica, Age 8

When offered honestly, "I love you" is the most powerful phrase in human language.

The thing I didn't know at 8 years old was not to expect the person to whom you say "I love you" to say it back. So I lived through years of saying it, then feeling sad and sick and unloved when the recipient of my affection didn't offer his or hers in return. As if I were yodeling in the Alps, and the yodel didn't echo.

(I love the word "yodel." It makes me think of sipping hot chocolate in lederhosen.)

I'm over it, now. If I say "I love you," that's all that needs to be said. A return is icing. And I know when a return is sincere. I can feel it, like the resonance of a deep Buddhist gong in my chest.

Besides, if return "I love yous" were mandatory, part of you would always question the sincerity.